Joy and Pain on the Panchen Lama’s Birthday

By Peter Newman / April 29, 2014;

April 25 found Tibetans around the world celebrating the twenty-fifth birthday of the Panchen Lama and protesting against his disappearance at the hands of the Chinese authorities. The day brought a mingling of joy and pain to the international Tibetan community, where birthday festivities were tempered by grief at the continued loss of one of Tibetan Buddhism’s most beloved Lamas.

Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the 11th incarnation of the Panchen Lama and the second highest ranking leader in the Gelugpa Sect of Tibetan Buddhism, was taken into “protective custody” at the age of six by Chinese authorities, shortly after his identification by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in May 1995. Since then, his whereabouts and condition have remained unknown, creating deep unease within the Tibetan community. To this day, the release of the Panchen Lama is one of the top priorities of Tibetan people.

In New Delhi, Tibetans-in-exile marched to protest against the Panchen Lama’s disappearance, and in Bylakuppe, Karnataka state, Sikyong Dr Lobsang Sangay presided over a day of celebration and protest at Tashi Lunpo Monastery, and appealed to the Chinese authorities to release Gedun Choekyi Nyima, his family and other prisoners of conscience as a step towards restoring China’s moral leadership in the world.

Sikyong Dr. Lobsang Sangay at Tashi Lhunpo monastery in South India during the 25th birthday commemoration of the 11th Panchen Rinpoche Photo: tibet.net

Sikyong Dr Lobsang Sangay at Tashi Lhunpo monastery
Photo: tibet.net

In Dharamsala thousands attended a commemoration of the day hosted by the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) in the courtyard of Tsuklagkhang, the main Temple. Traditional Tibetan music and dance lent an air of festivity to the event, but a reading of a statement by the Sikyong reminded all present of the gravity of the Panchen Lama’s continued disappearance. Kalon Chhinjor read the statement: “[The disappearance of the Panchen Lama] serves as a strong testimony of the Chinese government’s conscious and deliberate efforts to control every aspect of the Tibetan way of life…The international community must make it plain to China that flagrant human rights violations such as the disappearance of the 11th Panchen Lama cannot be papered over.”

Further celebrations took place at the Tibetan Children Village Day School in McLeod Ganj, where a cake was cut and a large birthday card to be sent in protest to the governor of Lhasa was signed by many people.