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New Dalai Lama ‘could be a Woman’

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NEW DALAI LAMA ‘COULD BE A WOMAN’



By Richard Spencer



7 december 2007



Beijing, China – The next Dalai Lama could be a woman, it emerged yesterday.



Although there are female lamas — or living buddhas — men are predominant and it is rare for reincarnated lamas not to share the sex of their predecessors.



However, at the start of a 10-day visit to Italy, Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th and current Dalai Lama, said: “If a woman reveals herself as more useful the lama could very well be reincarnated in this form.”


dalai.jpg“If a woman reveals herself as more useful the lama could very well be reincarnated in this form.”



This comment follows his surprising remarks last week that he might choose his successor before his death, or even hold a referendum on whether he should be reborn at all.



“If people feel that the institution of the Dalai Lama is still necessary, it will continue,” he said.



Traditionally, the Dalai Lama’s successor is chosen by a committee of monks who find a young child born after his death, who is supposed to show a spark of the dead leader’s spirit. The question of his succession is of growing importance to the Dalai Lama, who is 72.



There is a growing determination among the Chinese authorities to exert their control over Tibetan buddhism.



The Chinese will want to oversee the appointment of his successor, aware that he is a figurehead for Tibetan aspirations for greater autonomy or even independence.



In the summer, they demanded that all reincarnations of lamas had to win approval from China’s religious affairs bureau before being reborn. This is in line with the principle that all religions must operate within a framework controlled by the Communist Party.



Source: Daily Telegraph (London)

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