Did The Chinese Government Kill The 11th Panchen Lama?

[lopaka]

I have just the bare bones of this story, and was wondering if anbody has better information or links. Thanks-lopaka


PANCHEN LAMA

MISSING


Have you seen this boy?
Kidnapped by the Chinese Government at age 6
World's youngest political prisoner

Title: 11th Panchen Lama of Tibet

Name: Gedhun Choekyi Nyima

Birthday: April 25, 1989
Age: 13
Place of Birth: Lhari, Tibet

Missing since: May 17, 1995


1. Who is the Panchen Lama?
2. Why did the Chinese Government kidnap the Panchen Lama?
3. What did the Chinese Government do after?
4. What did the Chinese Government say after the kidnapping?



1. Who is the Panchen Lama?

The Panchen Lama is the second highest spiritual leader of Tibet after the Dalai Lama. 300 years ago, the Great 5th Dalai Lama wanted to reward his tutor. So, he gave him the title "Panchen" meaning "great scholar". The seat of the Panchen Lamas is Tashilhunpo monastery in Shigatse, west of Lhasa.

During his life, the 10th Panchen Lama struggled to preserve the Buddhist religion and Tibetan culture after the savage "Cultural Revolution" of the Chinese occupiers that obliterated nearly all the Tibetan cultural and religious heritage. He even wrote a 70,000 character petition to Mao Zedong which Mao later named "Poisonous Arrow aimed at the heart of the Communist Party". In 1989 Panchen Lama died under suspicious circumstances - it was suspected that he was poisoned by the Chinese. After His death, a group of senior monks was dispatched to perform ceremonies to locate His reincarnation - a young boy that the Panchen Lama was reborn into.

10th Panchen Lama

The abbot of the Tashilhunpo monastery, Chadrel Rinpoche, and a group of other senior lamas organized a search party to locate the boys that the Panchen Lama could have been reborn into. According to 300 years of Buddhist tradition, His Holiness the Dalai Lama was provided with a list of the boys. Then, he then performed a ritual to find out which one of these children was the true reincarnation of the Panchen Lama. That way, each of the Panchen Lamas has been discovered for hundreds of years. This is how His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama discovered the reincarnation of the 10th Panchen Lama - the 6-year old boy Gedhun Choekyi Nyima.

Chadrel Rinpoche

2. Why did the Chinese Government kidnap the Panchen Lama?

When a Dalai Lama dies, the Panchen Lama plays a major role in discovering His reincarnation. So, the Panchen Lama is the "key" to the next Dalai Lama. The Chinese Government badly wants to control and subjugate the Tibetan people. Since Tibetans are devout Buddhists, the only way the Chinese can do it is through the two supreme religious leaders - the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama.

3. What did the Chinese Government do after?

The Chinese Government was and is still very afraid of the Dalai Lama. Once the Dalai Lama announced the Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the Chinese Government immediately abducted Him and His family. The Panchen Lama went missing on May 17th 1995. He has not been seen ever since. Chadrel Rinpoche, the abbot of the Tashilhunpo monastery, and the other monks were sentenced to "treason" and imprisoned.

Then, contrary to Buddhist ritual, the Chinese Government appointed its own "panchen lama". Even though the Communist Government does not believe in religion, it still fabricated rules for finding a Panchen Lama. However, neither the Dalai Lama nor the Tibetan people recognize the Chineese-appointed boy. Therefore, the Chinese-appointed "panchen lama" is no Panchen Lama at all, carries absolutely no validity and is an unfortunate player in the Chinese imperialist plans for hegemony over Tibet.

4. What did the Chinese Government say after the kidnapping?

The Chinese Govenment gave many different stories about the 11th Panchen Lama - first, that he was in custody of the Government so that He is not "kidnapped by Tibetan separatists"; then that the boy was "living happily and his parents did not want him to be disturbed". However, the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson was not allowed to see the boy in 1998. The Chinese Government's latest version is that the boy is in his village in Tibet, that he was 5'4" and studying English. This does not seem true as people have not seen the boy there. The Chinese Government prevents anyone from seeing the boy.

 

[Anonymous]

From what I know, Gendün Choekyi Nyima, the 11th Panchen Lama, has never been seen again ever since he's been declared "missing" in 1995. Even though the Chinese authorities stated that the boy was doing well, nobody was ever allowed to see him.
In 1999 there were rumours that the boy had died in a Chinese prison, but these rumours were denied by the prison officials. (There's an article about these rumours here.)
I think there haven't been any news concerning his whereabouts or well-being ever since.

I've also found another, older (1996) article about the role of the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama as religious leaders, the selection of tülkus in general, and the story of the 11th Panchen Lama. Seems to be pretty interesting:
Opiate of the Atheists?: The Panchen Lama controversy

 

[Kondoru]

I have read a lot about this from chinese sources, not all of which I take seriously!
However, a few points...

and China's leaders dismiss reports of Tibetan dissatisfaction with their rule as the unfounded complaints of a small minority of the populace that perversely clings to Tibet's 'feudal' past.

(What is really meant is the unhappy people are disinherited religiouses and nobles, the peasants and liberated slaves are quite happy.)

Tibet suffered badly during the cultural revolution, but them as the chinese of today freely admit, it was bad for everyone.

What about the very many tibetian people who live and have always lived in the surrounding provinces of China (including our dalai lama!)

What about the bonpo? (as if tibet was a buddist nation! most of the common people were bonpo though only a few would have out and out identified themselves as such, and those (possibly because of their faith) were untouchables. What about the islamic community?

Since imperial times the Chinese govt has alway taken a great interest in this incarnation business,-whether or not they have activley intervened I do not know. But choosing an incarnation when you have already admitted it is tosh is silly.

What about the Bhutanese who let their dalai lama franchise lapse in the 19th C??

and lastly what about the idea that the next dalai lama is going to be born in the west?

My guess is they have hidden the lad and let him lead a normal life (the political situation is quite dodgy) they do have to protect him from tibetian millitants though, there are some left.

 

[EnolaGaia]

The Chinese government has only now issued a perfunctory news release revealing what became of the boy named as 11th Panchen Lama.

China says boy picked by Dalai Lama now a college graduate

China said Tuesday that a boy who disappeared 25 years ago after being picked by the Dalai Lama as Tibetan Buddhism’s second-highest figure is now a college graduate with a stable job.

Very little information has been given about Gedhun Choekyi Nyima or his family since he went missing at age 6 shortly after being named the 11th Panchen Lama.

China, which claims that Tibet is part of its territory, named another boy to the position, Gyaltsen Norbu, who is rarely seen and is believed to spend most of his time in Beijing. He is generally viewed as a political figure under Beijing’s control and shares none of the Dalai Lama’s global fame.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said Gedhun Choekyi Nyima “received free compulsory education when he was a child, passed the college entrance examination and now has a job.” Zhao said neither the now-31-year-old man or his family wishes to be disturbed in their “current normal lives.” No other details were given. ...

FULL STORY: https://apnews.com/79313edf55b390fb26ce1652bc9fb1d5