Geneva —The issue of the next Dalai Lama has a lot to do with the case of the Panchen Lama, said Sikyong, adding, the real reason why the Chinese government kidnapped the 11th Panchen Lama.
The Tibet Office in Geneva, Switzerland, CTA’s Department of Information and International Relations held a special panel discussion on the Panchen Lama on November 1, 2021, entitled Tibet’s Stolen Child – XIth Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima.
The panelists at the discussion include Penpa Tsering, Sikyong(President) of the Central Tibetan Administration; Kai Mueller, Executive Director of International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) Germany; Ven Zeekyab Rinpoche (Tenzin Thuten Rabgyal), abbot of Tashi Lhunpo monastery; and Karma Choeying, Secretary of Department of Information and International Relations (DIIR). The panel was moderated by Dukthen Kyi, head of DIIR’s human rights desk.
“The real reason that the Chinese government kidnapped the 11th Panchen Lama is to make sure that they select the next Dalai Lama. This is one of the many issues that has been raised through many years now that the current Dalai Lama is ageing. Every government starting from the United States have passed resolutions that stresses the importance of the recognition of the 15th Dalai Lama. The issue of the next Dalai Lama has a lot of relevance to the case of the Panchen Lama,” said Sikyong Penpa Tsering.
"We have no idea where he is. We don’t even know whether he is alive or not. “Even if he is alive, he has not been provided the kind of education that a Panchen Lama should receive, thereby, completely incapacitating the real Panchen lama from performing the duties to serve sentient beings,” he added.
“An atheist government who doesn’t believe in religion, who has no idea about what life after death is should not interfere in the reincarnation process. Because to believe in the process of reincarnation, one has to believe in the philosophy of life after death,” he continued.
Other panelists spoke about how the Chinese government abducted the 11th Panchen Lama when he was only six years old and has not heard from him since. The international community and governments have called on the Chinese government to release the 11th Panchen Lama, but until now, the Chinese government has not responded.
