THE 14th DALAI LAMA , THE 11th PANCHEN LAMA,

AND THE 9th JEBTSUNDAMBA

PANCHEN LAMA

The Panchen Lama is a tulku (is a reincarnate custodian of a specific lineage of teachings in Tibetan Buddhism) of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. Panchen Lama is one of the most important figures in the Gelug tradition, with its spiritual authority second only to Dalai Lama. Along with the council of high lamas, he is in charge of seeking out the next Dalai Lama, and the Dalai Lama also has the right to participate in the selection of the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama. The fifth Dalai Lama once selected the fifth Panchen Lama Lobsang Yeshe (1663–1737), the seventh Dala Lama selected the sixth Panchen Lama Palden Tenpai Nyima (1782–1853), and the sixth Panchen Lama himself liked the eighth Dalai Lama and others. It is said that the Panchen Lama is the first reincarnation of the fifth Dalai Lama's Venerable Master.

During the reign of the 13th Dalai Lama, the Tibetan government issued an order to collect taxes from the monks to acquire weapons for self-defense and strengthen the army. First of all, the supporters of IX Panchen Lama opposed this. In 1923, Panchen Lama left Tibet for Outer Mongolia, but because of the Red government in Mongolia, he settled in Inner Mongolia. In 1932, there was a people's uprising against the Red government in Mongolia. They were encouraged by the rumor that Panchen Lama was coming to help. Panchen Lama was working under Chiang Kai-shek as the "Minister for the Western Regions" then. He wanted to return to Tibet, but the Dalai Lama refused. They both died almost at the same time.

When the 14th Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959, the successor X Panchen Lama, remained the most influential person in Tibet. In 1983, he married a Chinese girl and had a child, which was a "defect" in the tradition of Lamaism. In 1989, Panchen Lama died at the age of 51. In 1995, the Dalai Lama named six-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima is the next Panchen Lama. But the Chinese immediately kidnap the boy, and his whereabouts remain unknown. However, Beijing claims that he is alive. On 17 May 1995, the Chinese government abducted the recognized Pancheи Lama. Then in November 1995, they selected a different boy, Gyaincain Norbu, using the golden urn lottery system. His parents are members of the Chinese Communist Party.

After Emperor Qianlong of the Manchu Qing Dynasty conquered Tibet and suppressed the Oirat, the custom of selecting the Dalai Lama, Panchen Lama, and Mongolian Jibtsandamba using the golden urn lottery system was legalized in 1792. Beijing decided this issue because the second Jibtsandamba supported the Mongol rebellion against the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and two Dalai Lamas were appointed in Tibet simultaneously. In 1995, Gyaincain Norbu`s name was drawn from the Golden Box, claiming this law was valid. Ye Xiaowen, China's minister of religious affairs, announced the new Panchen Lama and Mongolian Rinpoche Ajaa gegeen presided over the ceremony.

Now, 26-year-old Panchen Lama is the deputy chairman of the Chinese Buddhist Association. However, the Dalai Lama's institution disapproves and firmly opposes it. As for the devotees who follow the Gelug school of Tibetan religion, there are places like Mongolia, Bhutan, in China-Inner Mongolia, Tibet; in Russia-Kalmyk, Buriat, Tuva,; in India-Ladakh,; in Nepal-Shirva. None of them allow New Panchen Lama.     

Last year, the Embassy of China in Mongolia met with some leaders of the Buddhist community in Mongolia. It proposed cooperation and exchange between the religious organizations of the two countries through cultural exchanges. At the invitation of the Chinese side, some representatives of the Mongolian religion visited the Panchen Lama during their visit to Beijing. However, none of the Gandan Monastery representatives, the main temple in Mongolia, participated in the event.

DALAI LAMA XIV

Born in 1935, he became the 14th Dalai Lama at three. After the Chinese People's Liberation Army "liberated" Tibet in 1950, he was promoted to deputy chairman of the National People's Congress. But in 1959, he fled to India when a rebellion broke out in Tibet and was suppressed. India granted asylum to the Dalai Lama and allowed the Tibetan Government-in-Exile to exist in Dharamsala. Because of this, there was a border war between China and India. The war ended when the US VII Fleet entered the Indian Ocean to defend India.

 Since his exile, the Dalai Lama has initiated, called for, and implemented many international projects on issues such as Tibetan independence and the human rights of Tibetans. For example, when Taiwan occupied the seat of China in the United Nations, three resolutions were passed on the human rights issue in Tibet. During Mao's time, he was considered a sworn enemy of the Chinese people. However, after the Chinese reformer Deng Xiaoping came to power, he invited the Dalai Lama to his country to lead the religion. He promised the Dalai Lama everything except independence for Tibet. However, Deng's several years of attempts to negotiate an alliance failed because of the Dalai Lama's refusal. Since then, the Dalai Lama's institution and China have become more hostile than ever.

Tibet's independence is not recognized by any country in the world, including India, which maintains its Tibetan Government-in-Exile in its territory. Because the world order was already established due to World War II, with the series of agreements of Cairo, Tehran, Yalta, and Potsdam, no country could violate it.

In 1979, the Dalai Lama visited the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of Mongolia. The Chinese went to war with Vietnam that year, and Sino-Soviet relations were at their worst. Therefore, the Dalai Lama was invited to the meeting in Ulaanbaatar to provoke China, pretending to be the World Buddhist Peace Organization. It was a political operation initiated by the Soviets. The Dalai Lama gave a speech in Stuttgart in 1988 to allow Tibet special autonomy. However, in 1991, when communism fell, and the Cold War ended when he returned to Mongolia, he announced that was withdrawing from his Stuttgart speech. He declared in Ulaanbaatar that he favored the complete independence of Tibet.

After the Cold War, China established good neighborly relations with countries such as Mongolia, Russia, Vietnam, and South Korea, which were enemies. However, it maintained a cold relationship with India for a long time. Apart from border disputes, India has been unable to normalize relations with its booming giant neighbor China, mainly because it maintains a Tibetan Government-in-Exile on its soil. As a democratic country, they cannot kick out the Tibetan Government-in-Exile. Nonetheless, the Tibetans have unfortunately become troublesome guests for their host. Some researchers conclude that appointing a lama as the ambassador from India to Mongolia for 13 years was an attempt to move the Tibetan Government-in-Exile to Mongolia.

 In 2011, the Dalai Lama announced that he would no longer be the head of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile and that he was withdrawing from politics. In 2012, he said, "We repeat that we are not for the independence of Tibet" and that Tibet should have a democratic structure within China. However, the Chinese government does not believe in this and has repeatedly stated that is actively carrying out political activities to divide China under the guise of religion. He also accuses the Dorje Shugden sect (is an entity associated with the Gelug school, the newest of the schools of Tibetan Buddhism), which belongs to his religious denomination, of persecuting the opposition sect and declaring "war" against them. In addition, non-Chinese sources claim that the Dalai Lama supports Japanese terrorist Aom Shinrikyo, received money from him, received $1.7 million from the American CIA, and sides with India in the Sino-Indian border dispute.

The Dalai Lama visited Mongolia nine times between 1979 and 2016. Since the normalization of Mongolian-Chinese relations in 1990, the Chinese government has been susceptible to all visits. From the Mongolian side, each visit has nothing to do with the Mongolian government and explains that it is only by invitation of the devotees, but the Chinese do not believe in this. During his visit in 2016, when he spoke about his intention to visit the United States soon and meet the new President, China received it very sensitively and concluded that it was a political statement. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs pointed out that the Dalai Lama has left politics to devote himself only to religious activities. Still, instead of sitting in a temple, he continues to make political statements around the country, agitating and trying to divide China.

The Chinese are very sensitive to every visit of the Dalai Lama abroad. He last visited Russia in 2004, after which the Russians refused to issue him a visa. He visits Japan, the United States, and many European countries, and the head of state of some countries receives him specially. The Chinese hand over notes in protest each time, but they are more annoyed by his visit to Mongolia. Because among the independent countries, Mongolia is the only place where Dalai Lama's Gelug school is practiced. In addition, he talks about many different versions of his reincarnation, and there are rumors about his reincarnation in Mongolia. That raises suspicions that the Dalai Lama's institution and Tibetan Government-in-Exile will move to Mongolia after reincarnation.

JEBTSUNDAMBA

The first Jebtsundamba, Zanabazar (1635–1723), was identified as the reincarnation of the scholar Taranatha of the Jonang school of Tibetan Buddhism. Zanabazar was the son of Tüsheet Khan Gombodorj, ruler of central Khalkha Mongolia, and himself became the spiritual head of the Khalkha Mongols. Starting with the third Jebtsundamba, the name of the reincarnation of Jebtsundamba of Mongolia has been decided by opening the Golden Box in Beijing's Yunheigun Temple (Yunhei, or the Lama Temple, is a temple and monastery of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism) and drawing a name. That is Manchu law. But all subsequent Jebtsundambas have been identified from Tibet as a matter of political policy. 

In 1911, Mongolia not only declared its independence but also decided to get rid of the influence of the Tibetan religion and declared "Northern Buddhism" based in Mongolia. When Outer Mongolia declared independence in 1911, the eighth Jebtsundamba (1869–1924) was elevated to the theocratic ruler, Bogda Khan. He was the head of state until he died in 1924. After his death, Khalkha revealed his reincarnation. Tudev Luvsandorje, born in the Selenge province of Mongolia in 1926 and became Jebtsundamba IX, was also recognized by Panchen Lama IX. Tudev Luvsandorj was alive when the reincarnation of Jebtsundamba IX, whom the Dalai Lama XIV later revealed suddenly in 1990, was just born. He was discharged from the army and died in 1948. In 1928, a state law was passed banning Rinpoche (Rinpoche - someone who is recognized as the rebirth of a previous practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism.) reincarnation (this law has not yet been repealed). Luvsandorje was named Jebtsundamba IX when he was only two years old.   

So-called Jebtsundamba IX was known as a friend of the Dalai Lama when he was a child. After the Dalai Lama visited Mongolia in 1991, he returned to Dharamsala and suddenly appointed a man who had been a lama and had many children as Jebtsundamba IX. The identification of this person, who was born more than ten years after the death of Bogda Khan, was a significant departure from the established custom of identifying the reincarnation of Jebtsundamba and Bogda Khan's policy of isolating his religion from Tibet. Furthermore, the policy of separating the religion from Tibet by creating a new sect called Northern Buddhism was the desire of the Bogda Khan, so it was a very different "reincarnation." When the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union, Edward Shevarnadze, visited Mongolia in 1988, the so-called Jebtsundamba IX himself testified that he allowed him to appear as the reincarnation of the next Jebtsundamba. Still, there is no evidence of such a consultation, task, or permission being found in the protocol of the visit.

 The second Jebtsundamba IX was initially banned by the Mongolian government in 1999, entered Mongolia illegally without permission, and was soon expelled and returned to Dharamsala. But in 2010, he came and became a citizen of Mongolia at the invitation of the Mongolian temple. He promised to be "reborn" in Mongolia when he "cloned" himself again. The Dalai Lama also said that when asked where he would be "reborn," he just presented his wish to be "reborn" in Mongolia. 

 After the death of the new Jebtsundamba in 2013, talk about his reincarnation began to take place in Mongolia. According to some estimates, a total of 11 young children are competing. The Dalai Lama's last visit to Mongolia in 2016 seems to be aimed at clarifying the next reincarnation of Jebtsundamba, and he has acknowledged this. However, it is not yet clear how the Chinese will evaluate this in terms of politics. According to the clarification of the last Panchen Lama, they seem to believe that the law of 1792 of the Manchu Qing State, or the system in which Jebtsundamba was drawn by opening a golden box in Beijing's Yunhegun Temple, is valid.

In addition, as of today, there are reincarnations of almost forty high priests that the Dalai Lama identified with his participation in Mongolia. Among them is the reincarnation of a Tibetan monk who died more than a hundred years ago: mostly young children and young people.