Dalai Lama has no authority over reincarnation system: Chinese envoy to India

China’s Ambassador to India, Xu Feihong, said on Sunday that the Dalai Lama does not have the authority to decide whether the Tibetan Buddhist reincarnation system should continue.

Feihong stated that the 14th Dalai Lama has already affirmed that the tradition of Dalai Lama succession will go on. The practice, known as the Living Buddha reincarnation, has been a part of Tibetan Buddhism for over 700 years.

He went on to explain that currently, more than 1,000 reincarnation systems exist across Tibet and Tibetan-inhabited areas in Chinese provinces such as Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu and Qinghai. Xu said the 14th Dalai Lama is just one part of this long-standing religious tradition.

“Currently, there are over 1000 reincarnation systems of Living Buddhas in Xizang and Tibetan-inhabited prefectures/counties of Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu and Qinghai provinces,” Xu Feihong said in a post on X.

“The 14th Dalai Lama is part of this long-standing historical tradition and religious succession, not otherwise. The reincarnation of Dalai Lamas neither began from him nor will end due to him. He has no authority to decide whether the reincarnation system shall continue or be abolished,” he added.

China’s Ambassador to India made his remarks just days after the Indian government clearly stated its position on the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation.

On July 2, Union Minister for Minority Affairs Kiren Rijiju, a practising Buddhist, said that only the current Dalai Lama and the traditions he has established can decide his successor.

His statement is widely seen as a direct response to China’s claims that the Dalai Lama has no authority over the reincarnation process.

“The Dalai Lama is the most important and defining institution for Buddhists,” Mr. Rijiju said, adding, “All those who follow the Dalai Lama feel that the incarnation is to be decided by the established convention and as per the wish of the Dalai Lama himself. Nobody else has the right to decide it except him and the conventions in place.”

– Ends