China told not to interfere in Dalai Lama's succession

TOKYO: In a sharp message to China to back off from interfering in the succession process of the next Dalai Lama, the Japanese Buddhist Conference for World Federation has placed on record its position that the Tibetan people must decide the successor of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama on the basis of Tibetan culture and history, and not China.

The Japan Buddhist Conference for World Federation is an umbrella organization that brings together a number of sects of Japanese Buddhism, with millions of followers in Japan and other countries and its letter has strongly voiced objections over China's constant interference in Tibet's religious and spiritual matters.

"His Holiness, Dalai Lama, the 14th turned 87 years on July 6, 2022. The issue of his future successor is gradually gaining attention all over the world. We, the monks of Japan, believe that Tibetan people must decide upon the next successor based on their Tibetan Buddhist culture and history", Reverend Eihiro Mizutani, the secretary general of Japan Buddhist Conference for World Federation, said in the letter while highlighting that China had no role in this.

"PRC, which controls Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) is working out the policy which would choose the Dalai Lama's successor under the Chinese government's leadership, based on the 'Tibetan Buddhism Living Buddha Reincarnation Management Law', enacted in the year 2007.

However, the People's Republic of China's national policy is based on Communism and is considered non-religious. The Japanese Buddhist Conference said, "Non-religious people deciding the religious leader is contradictory in itself".

It further stated, "His Holiness Dalai Lama stated that 'forceful intervention in the approval process (of next Dalai Lama) by people executing political powers, who did not even acknowledge the very existence of previous or the future Dalai Lamas, is inappropriate'." (ANI)

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