Dalai Lama hangs up his ceremonial yellow hat

BEIJING – Amid rising tensions on the Korean peninsula, a tragic stampede in Cambodia that killed more than 350 people, and continuing complaints about censorship in China after last week’s Shanghai fire, the news that the Dalai Lama wants to give up his ceremonial duties was buried in Asian press round-ups.
Although the duties themselves are exactly as they appear – ceremonial and therefore of no great substance – the move indicated yet again that Tibet’s spiritual leader is preparing his people for life after he is gone.
“It means that he’s continuing a decades-long attempt to try to make his exile administration more democratic and less dependent on him,” said Robbie Barnett, a Tibet scholar at Columbia University.
The 75-year-old Dalai Lama is the leader of the Gelugpa (Yellow Hat) branch of Tibetan Buddhism.  He led Tibet’s government until he fled his homeland in 1959, nine years after the Chinese People’s Liberation Army marched into the region. Then he became the head of the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamsala, northern India.

In recent years, the Dalai Lama has looked to reduce his political leadership role.  One of his spokesmen was quoted by The Associated Press as saying he has considered himself semi-retired since 2001, when a Tibetan prime minister was elected.

The duties the Dalai Lama is seeking to give up include addressing the Tibetan parliament-in-exile and signing resolutions.  He’s expected to bring up the issue at the parliament’s next session in March.

“What’s interesting here is that he’s becoming more specific in terms of when this might happen and what this retirement might mean,” Barnett said.

Beijing does not recognize the government-in-exile and maintains Tibet is a part of the People’s Republic of China, an assertion disputed by many Tibetans.  Furthermore, Beijing accuses the Dalai Lama of pursuing Tibetan independence, whereas he claims he is interested in securing autonomy for the former kingdom.

As such, the Chinese leadership will be happy to see the back of the Dalai Lama, but it’s just possible his stepping down as leader of the Tibetan people will create – not solve – problems for Beijing.

The exiled Tibetan community “does have fracture lines,” said Barnett.  “Because people come from different regions of Tibet and different schools of religion, and now there are differences between very religious and very secular groups.”

Without the current Dalai Lama to unify the community, senior members of the Tibetan exile community are concerned about their future.

“Does [China] really want a fractured Tibet exile population?”  Barnett asked.  “A fractured community is sure to produce pockets of violence and much more anger and to make it that much harder for anyone to negotiate with.”