纽约时报：中国要求达赖喇嘛必须转世（英中文）

China’s Tensions With Dalai Lama Spill Into the Afterlife
By CHRIS BUCKLEY March 12, 2015
http://cn.nytimes.com/china/20150312/c12dalailama/en-us/

Chinese Communist Party leaders are deathly afraid that the Dalai Lama will not have an afterlife. Worried enough that this week, officials repeatedly warned that he must reincarnate, and on their terms.

Tensions over what will happen when the aging 14th Dalai Lama dies, and particularly over who decides who will succeed him as the most prominent leader in Tibetan Buddhism, have ignited at the annual gathering of China’s legislators in Beijing. Officials have amplified their argument that the Communist government is the proper guardian of the Dalai Lama’s succession through an intricate process of reincarnation that has involved lamas, or senior monks, visiting a sacred lake and divining dreams.

Party functionaries were incensed by the exiled Dalai Lama’s recent speculation that he might end his spiritual lineage and not reincarnate, confounding the Chinese government’s plans to engineer a succession that would produce a putative 15th Dalai Lama who accepts its presence and policies in Tibet. Their anger welled up on Wednesday, as it had a day earlier.

Zhu Weiqun, a Communist Party official who has long dealt with Tibetan issues, told reporters in Beijing on Wednesday that the Dalai Lama had, essentially, no say over whether he was reincarnated. That was ultimately for the Chinese government to decide, he said, according to a transcript of his comments on the website of People’s Daily, the party’s main newspaper.

“Decision-making power over the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, and over the end or survival of this lineage, resides in the central government of China,” said Mr. Zhu, formerly a deputy head of the United Front Department of the Communist Party, which oversees dealings with religious and other nonparty groups. He now leads the ethnic and religious affairs committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body that meets at the same time as the legislature, or National People’s Congress.

Mr. Zhu accused the Dalai Lama of trampling on sacred traditions.

“In religious terms, this is a betrayal of the succession of Dalai Lamas in Tibetan Buddhism,” he said.

“The 14th Dalai Lama has taken an extremely frivolous and disrespectful attitude towards this issue,” Mr. Zhu continued. “Where in the world is there anyone else who takes such a frivolous attitude towards his own succession?”

The sight of Communist Party officials defending the precepts of reincarnation and hurling accusations of heresy at the Dalai Lama might have Marx turning in his grave. The party is committed to atheism in its ranks, though it accepts religious belief in the public. And President Xi Jinping has declared his fealty to Marxist-Leninist dialectical materialism. But the dispute over reincarnation has profound implications for Tibet, where the Dalai Lama remains widely revered more than half a century after he fled into exile in 1959.

“I don’t think the Dalai Lama would mind if you saw this through the prism of Monty Python,” Robert Barnett, director of the modern Tibetan studies program at Columbia University, said in a telephone interview. “But he is reminding the Chinese that, from his perspective and the perspective of probably nearly all Tibetans, the Chinese don’t really have a credible role in deciding these things.”

The Dalai Lama has not commented on the latest warnings from China. But Lobsang Sangay, the prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile, based in Dharamsala, northern India, was scathing on Tuesday, after the governor of the Tibetan autonomous region, Padma Choling, told reporters in Beijing that the Dalai Lama had profaned the Tibetan Buddhist faith by suggesting he might not be reincarnated.

“It’s like Fidel Castro saying, ‘I will select the next pope and all the Catholics should follow.’ That is ridiculous,” Lobsang Sangay told Reuters on Tuesday. “It’s none of Padma Choling or any of the Communist Party’s business, mainly because Communism believes in atheism and religion being poisonous.”

The Dalai Lama turns 80 in July, and as he has advanced in years, he and the Chinese government have both probably kept in mind the example of the succession of Panchen Lama, another senior figure in Tibetan Buddhism. After the 10th Panchen Lama died in 1989, the Dalai Lama confirmed a boy in Tibet as the next reincarnation in 1995. But the Chinese government hid away that boy and his parents and installed its own choice as the Panchen Lama. The Dalai Lama has indicated that he does not want to experience the same fate.

“Whether the institution of the Dalai Lama should continue or not is up to the Tibetan people,” the Dalai Lama said in an interview with the BBC in December. “There is no guarantee that some stupid Dalai Lama won’t come next, who will disgrace himself or herself. That would be very sad. So, much better that a centuries-old tradition should cease at the time of a quite popular Dalai Lama.”

Since 1995, the Chinese authorities have claimed an increasingly active role in the succession of the Dalai Lama and other Tibetan Buddhist leaders, Mr. Barnett said. Under the Qing dynasty, he said, the Manchu emperors who ruled China maintained a limited role in confirming the succession of the Dalai Lama and other Tibetan Buddhist leaders, but the Communist Party has demanded an increasingly hands-on role in intricate, often lengthy rituals of succession.

“They finally ended up with the state deciding whether people could reincarnate,” he said. “The lamas are left with a role that is in a way token in that process.”

Tibetans are sure to reject any future putative Dalai Lama handpicked by the Chinese government, Dicki Chhoyang, the head of the Department of Information and International Relations of the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamsala, said in a telephone interview.

“The person selected by the Chinese government is just as much a victim of the situation as anyone, so there’s nothing personal held against that person,” she said. “Communism, in theory, is atheist, so we’re just like this is too much.”

Tibetans, however, remain convinced that the Dalai Lama will ultimately continue his lineage of leading monks of the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism, a succession that dates from the 14th century, Mr. Barnett said. The Dalai Lama’s warnings that the succession might end, he said, are best understood as a way of encouraging Tibetans to focus on the issue and the options.

“The Tibetan people would never have faith in a so-called reincarnation appointed by the Chinese government,” Tsering Woeser, a Tibetan author based in Beijing who is critical of Beijing’s policies in her homeland, said in an online interview. “But I believe that the Dalai Lama will reincarnate.”

中国要求达赖喇嘛必须转世
储百亮 2015年03月12日
http://cn.nytimes.com/china/20150312/c12dalailama/

中国共产党领导人生怕达赖喇嘛没有来世。担心程度之高，以至于官员们本周多次警告达赖喇嘛，他必须转世，且要按他们的条件来转世。

面对年事渐高的十四世达赖喇嘛去世后将会发生什么、尤其是由什么人来决定谁将接替他成为藏传佛教最重要领袖的问题，有关的紧张气氛在中国立法者一年一度的北京聚会上爆发了。官员们加强了他们的主张，即共产党政府才是达赖喇嘛继位权的正当监护人。达赖喇嘛的继任是经过一个精细复杂的过程产生的，其中涉及喇嘛(或高僧)造访圣湖及占梦等活动。

流亡的达赖喇嘛近期称，他可能结束自己的精神世系，不再转世，这激怒了共产党官员，因为这搅乱了中国政府的计划，政府想通过控制继位程序，来产生一位由其指定的、接受其西藏统治和政策的十五世达赖喇嘛。他们的愤怒情绪在周三涌现出来，前一天也有所表现。

一直负责处理西藏事务的共产党官员朱维群周三在北京对记者说，达赖喇嘛在自己是否转世的问题上基本上没有发言权。据一份党的主要报纸《人民日报》网站上该官员答记者问的全文，他说，这件事最终要由中国政府决定。

“达赖喇嘛的转世也好，这个世系的废存也好，决定权在于中国的中央政府，”朱维群说。他曾任共产党统战部常务副部长，该部负责监管与宗教团体及其他非党团体的往来。朱维群现在是全国人民政治协商会议民族宗教委员会的领导人。全国政协是一个与中国立法机构全国人民代表大会同时开会的咨询机构。

朱维群指责达赖喇嘛践踏神圣传统。

他说，“（这）是宗教上对藏传佛教达赖喇嘛世系的背叛。”

“十四世达赖对这个问题采取了一种非常不严肃的、非常不尊重的态度，”朱维群继续说道。“世界上还有这样一个对自己的传承采取这样一种不严肃态度的人吗？”

共产党官员捍卫轮回规范、猛烈抨击达赖喇嘛异端的情景也许会让马克思不能在坟墓中安息。共产党要求其官员信仰无神论，但允许公众的宗教信仰。国家主席习近平曾宣布他效忠于马克思列宁主义的辩证唯物论。但是，轮回问题之争对西藏有深远影响，达赖喇嘛1959年逃亡之后的半个多世纪里，他在那里仍广受敬仰。

哥伦比亚大学(Columbia University)现代藏学研究项目(Modern Tibet Studies Program)主任罗伯特·巴尼特(Robert Barnett)在接受电话采访时说，“我觉得，如果你用巨蟒喜剧团(Monty Python)的角度来看这个问题，达赖喇嘛是不会介意的。但是，他在提醒中国人，从他的角度、以及可能是几乎所有藏人的角度来看，中国人在决定这些事情上，真起不了令人信服的作用。”

达赖喇嘛对来自中国的最新警告尚未发表评论。但是，位于印度北部达兰萨拉的西藏流亡政府总理洛桑森格周二无情地驳斥了西藏自治区主席白玛赤林的话，白玛赤林在北京对记者说，达赖喇嘛曾表示他可能不会转世，那是对藏传佛教信仰的亵渎。

洛桑森格周二对路透社说，“这就像菲德尔·卡斯特罗(Fidel Castro)说，‘我将选择下一任教皇，所有的天主教徒必须遵从’一样，这很荒唐。这件事与白玛赤林或共产党没有任何关系，主要是因为共产主义信仰无神论，认为宗教毒害人民。”

达赖喇嘛今年七月将满80岁，随着自己年事渐高，他与中国政府大概都把藏传佛教的另一位高僧班禅喇嘛继位的例子记在心里。十世班禅喇嘛于1989年去世后，达赖喇嘛曾在1995年确定了一位西藏男孩为下一位转世的班禅喇嘛，但中国政府把那个男孩及其父母藏了起来，把政府自己的选择任命为班禅喇嘛。达赖喇嘛表示，他不希望遭受同样的命运。

“达赖喇嘛的制度是否应该继续，要由西藏人民来决定，”达赖喇嘛去年12月接受BBC采访时说。“没有人能保证，今后不会出现一位愚钝的达赖喇嘛，令其本人蒙羞。那将非常可悲。因此，最好让这一古老传统终结于一个备受欢迎的达赖喇嘛身上。”

巴内特说，自1995年以来，中国当局在达赖喇嘛以及其他藏传佛教领袖的继任问题上宣称的作用越来越积极。他说，清朝时，统治中国的满清皇帝保持了确认达赖喇嘛和其他藏传佛教领袖继任人选的有限作用，但共产党在挑选继任的复杂且往往漫长的程序中，要求起越来越直接的作用。

他说，“他们最终做出了由国家来决定人是否可以再生的事情。喇嘛们在这个过程中的作用只剩下某种程度上的象征。”

位于达兰萨拉的西藏流放政府信息与国际关系部负责人德吉曲央(Dicki Chhoyang)在接受电话采访时说，藏人一定会拒绝承认任何由中国政府精心挑选指定的达赖喇嘛。

她说，“由中国政府选定的人，与这种情况下的任何人一样，都是受害者，所以对其本人没有什么可指责的。共产主义在理论上是无神论，所以我们认为，这样做实在是太过分了。”

但是，巴内特说，藏人仍确信，达赖喇嘛最终将继续其领导格鲁派藏传佛教僧侣的世系，该世系的沿袭回溯到14世纪。他说，达赖喇嘛有关世系可能终结的警告，最好理解为他鼓励藏人关注有关问题和选择的一种方式。

住在北京的藏族作家次仁唯色经常批评中央政府在自己家乡实施的政策，她在接受在线采访时说，“西藏人民永远不会信任由中央政府任命的所谓转世化身。但我认为，达赖喇嘛会转世。”【唯色注：记者储百亮先生问的是“中国政府”，我回答的也是“中国政府”，我们都没有说“中央政府”。纽时的中文翻译为什么将英文原文中我说的“the Chinese government” 翻译成“中央政府”？把“中国政府”翻译成“中央政府”完全变味，实际上是一个原则性的问题。】

储百亮(Chris Buckley)是《纽约时报》记者。
翻译：Cindy Hao

延伸阅读：

记者会“政协委员谈促进民生改善与社会和谐稳定”http://live.people.com.cn/note.php?id=1077150302125559_ctdzb_034

（其中，朱维群说：“最近几年，达赖喇嘛在国际上串访，拜见他的人越来越少，包括一些外国的国家领导人，和他见面越来越少了。有些人不知好歹，在这种情况下还和达赖喇嘛见面、吃饭，实际上他们是掉分的，尤其是在中国老百姓的心目当中，这样的人是掉分的。同时，国际的新闻界对达赖喇嘛的关注度也越来越低，固然我们不希望达赖喇嘛在国际上串访，因为他的表演而影响了我们和有关国家良好的关系。……最近达赖喇嘛高调宣称他不再转世，不再转世不说，他还宣称达赖喇嘛世系要停止，实际这是一种双重背叛。第一种，他在政治上是对祖国的背叛，因为我们知道，达赖喇嘛的转世需要经过一系列的历史定制、宗教仪轨，而这个历史定制、宗教仪轨每一个环节都包括了必须向当时的中央政府报告，得到当时的中国中央政府的批准。没有中国中央政府的批准和承认，所有这些都是非法的，由此产生的所谓的达赖喇嘛也是非法的。可以这样说，达赖喇嘛的转世也好，这个世系的废存也好，决定权在于中国的中央政府，不在任何人，包括不在达赖喇嘛本人。 第二种背叛，是宗教上对藏传佛教达赖喇嘛世系的背叛……”）