Xinhua Insight: Exposing the myth of Dalai Lama's reincarnation (1)

The 14th Dalai Lama's birthplace lies under a swath of red hills in China's remote northwestern province of Qinghai.

Gonpo Tashi, 70, a nephew of the 14th Dalai Lama and his only close relative in China, has been taking care of the old residence where the Tibetan spiritual leader was born and spent his first years.

The shining refurbished compound has retained its original look with Tibetan decorative paintings, including Buddhas, monkey and elephant deities.

A simple temple-like building in the compound is the birthplace of the 14th Dalai Lama. The original shabby cottage was turned into a new hall thanks to Gonpo Tashi.

"It is right here that he correctly picked out objects used by the 13th Dalai Lama," he said.

That was in 1938. The 14th Dalai Lama was then a three-year-old boy called Lhamo Thonodup.

The place is Takster Village, Ping'an County, 50 km from Xining, capital of Qinghai Province.

REINCARNATION

Tibetan Buddhism holds that the soul of a senior lama, or Rinpoche (living Buddha), is reincarnated in the body of a child upon death.

The first to implement the reincarnation system was not the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, to which the 14th Dalai Lama belongs.

Tibetan Buddhism has four main schools, Gelug, Nyingma, Sakya and Kagyu. Gelug is the most influential.

"The establishment of the reincarnation system is a contribution from the Kagyu school," said Chamdoi, head of the Tsurpu Monastery Buddhist College of the Kaguy school.

In 1284, Rangjung Dorje was selected as the reincarnation of his Kagyu predecessor, becoming the first reincarnated Rinpoche in Tibet.

Before then, Tibetan Buddhism relied on father-to-son and master-to-disciple transmission. "The reincarnation system is more stable and is better for the monastery's development," said Chamdoi.

While the first reincarnated Rinpoche was from the Kagyu school, it is the Gelug school that has made the system influential.

As marriage is not allowed for Gelug monks, monastery leaders could not continue their rule through bloodlines, so they borrowed the idea of reincarnation from the Kagyu school.

In 1546, Sonam Gyaco, the 3rd Dalai Lama, was brought to the Zhaibung Monastery and became the first reincarnated child in the Gelug school, according to historical documents.

Zhaibung Monastery, built in 1416, hosted the enthronement ceremony of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Dalai Lama.

"We treat all the Dalai Lamas with the same reverence, because they came from the same soul," said Ngawang Jambae, 55, a senior monk who sat cross-legged in a Buddha hall at the monastery.

"But I think the 5th and 7th Dalai Lama were the greatest," he added.

The 5th Dalai Lama was summoned to an audience with Qing Emperor Shunzhi in 1653, who officially conferred on him the title of Dalai Lama, establishing its political and religious status in Tibet.

The Dalai Lama's enthronement had to be confirmed by the central government since then.

In 1751, the Qing imperial government empowered the 7th Dalai Lama to administer Tibet, marking the establishment of a theocratic local authority.

LOOKING FOR THE DALAI LAMA

After the 13th Dalai Lama passed away in 1933, the local government of Tibet followed historical convention and appointed a regent to search for the boy that held his soul.

The Regent Reting led the search team to Lhamo Latso Lake, where he saw in the water several Tibetan letters, a monastery with a golden tower-style roof, and a zigzag path to the east of the monastery leading to a small bungalow on the opposite hill.

Tibetans still frequently visit the lake for prayer.

"It is a sacred lake for us Tibetans," said Qoipei, a truck driver from Lhasa.

"Humans' previous life and future can be seen from the lake," said Qoipei.

Rinzin Quzhen, a 59-year-old woman, has come to Lhamo Latso Lake for the first time.

She put her palms together and chanted the scriptures after offering a hada, a piece of silk used as a greeting gift, to the direction of the lake.

"It is essential to observe the lake in the search for reincarnated Rinpoche," she said.@ One year after Reting saw the reflected image in the water, three teams left Lhasa and began their journey to find the next Dalai Lama.

"Looking for the Dalai Lama is not the same as looking for a low-level Rinpoche. They motivated many senior monks in Tibet and spent three years," said the grey-haired Gonpo Tashi.

"It has to follow historical conventions," he said.

It is said that the bungalow on the hillside at Takster Village looks like what Reting saw in the lake.

According to well-known tales in Tibet, the senior monks went into the room. Lhamo Thonodup grasped the prayer beads worn by the 13th Dalai Lama from a monk and hung them around his neck. Several daily articles of the 13th Dalai Lama were laid out before him. To their surprise, he exactly identified the items owned by the 13th Dalai Lama.

This led the search party to believe Lhamo Thonodup was the candidate for reincarnation. They brought him to Lhasa. (Mo