Lobsang Trinley Lhundrup Choekyi Gyaltsen, the 10th Panchen Lama
Lobsang Trinley Lhundrup Choekyi Gyaltsen, was born in 1938 in a nomadic community in Amdo, Tibet. He was identified as the 10th Panchen Lama by members of the Tashi Lhunpo monastery and immediately engulfed in controversy.
To understand this controversy, we turn to life events of the previous Panchen Lama. He and members of his monastery fled to China in 1924 to escape, what they believed were, unreasonable demands by the Lhasa government. Despite efforts to normalize relations, both parties died before this could happen.
After his death, exiled-officials from the Tashi Lhunpo monastery continued to foster relations with their Chinese protectors. The Chinese were agreeable to these events as they saw it as an opportunity to continue driving a wedge between the Lhasa government and the offices of the Panchen Lama.
Upon the 10th Panchen Lama's recognition as a young boy by the Tashi Lhunpo monastery, the Chinese government acknowledged his position. The Lhasa government did not as they had their own Panchen Lama candidate. The Chinese government forced the approval of their Panchen Lama by the Tibetan government through the signing of the 17-Point Agreement. The Panchen Lama's approval was a critical factor in the treaty, signed under duress by a Tibetan delegation to China, that indicated the importance that China placed on gaining official approval of its own candidate.
The first meeting of the 14th Dalai Lama and the 10th Panchen Lama took place in Lhasa in 1952. In 1954-55, the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama traveled to China together for meetings with the Communist leaders and in 1956 they again traveled together on a pilgrimage to India to celebrate the 2,500 birth of Shakamuni Buddha.
In the wake of the Tibetan National Uprising in 1959 and the subsequent flight of the Dalai Lama and 80,000 Tibetans to exile, the young Panchen Lama remained in Tibet. He became a key figure in the struggle to preserve Tibetan cultural and religious traditions and to promote Tibetan autonomy under Chinese occupation.
At the age of 21, he was appointed by the Communist Party as the Acting Chairman of the Preparatory Committee for the Autonomous Region of Tibet and then later as the vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. This effectively made him the most senior leader in the Tibetan Autonomous Region. The 10th Panchen Lama subsequently worked with the Chinese leadership to promote Tibetan issues through a delicate balance of negotiation and open confrontation. Fighting for religious freedom, improved education and acceptance of Tibetan as the official language his efforts were met with mixed success.
In his capacity as Vice Chairman, the 10th Panchen Lama traveled extensively between the Tibetan countryside and Beijing documenting the conditions of Tibetans living under Chinese rule.
His observations during this tour formed the basis of his famous 70,000-character petition to the Chinese leadership which he began drafting at the end of 1961. In April of 1962, he took the opportunity of a meeting on nationalities issues in Beijing to discuss with fellow Tibetan delegates the situation in Tibetan areas. On May 18, 1962, he met Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai and informed him about the contents of his petition. In June the petition was printed and circulated among the leaders.
The 70,000-character petition is a strong criticism of Chinese policies towards Tibetans, the misdirection of the different campaigns, including the much-touted democratic reforms. It is backed by case stories from the Panchen Lama's tour through Tibet.
Initial reaction from the Chinese leaders to the petition was positive. It became the basis of policy discussions at various levels of leadership in subsequent months. However, the situation changed around October of 1962 when a section of the leadership in the Tibet Work Committee began criticizing the petition for its mistakes and urging for a review. Thus began the persecution of the Panchen Lama, including harsh struggle sessions that were widely used during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. This lasted for over four years. In the summer of 1967, the Panchen Lama was formally arrested and imprisoned for nine years and eight months. He was released in October of 1977.
After his release he was gradually rehabilitated and returned to senior Party leadership. In 1979, he met in Beijing with members of the first fact-finding delegation sent by the Dalai Lama to Tibet. The Panchen Lama once again began touring Tibetan areas and worked on promoting Tibetan language, culture and religion. He revived the traditional Monlam Chenmo (Great Prayer Festival) ceremony in Lhasa and also the usage of Tibetan as an official language. Together with other Tibetan leaders he established the Tibet Development Fund, an NGO, to undertake developmental projects in Tibetan areas.
He continued to openly challenge the Chinese leadership, though he often subtly veiled his public commentaries behind the political rhetoric of the times. In January 1989 the Panchen Lama visited Tashi Lhunpo to participate in a religious ceremony. At a function on January 23, which turned out to be the largest gathering of Tibetan religious and political leaders since 1959, the Panchen Lama made an extraordinary public speech. He called for the Dalai Lama to be allowed to collaborate with him in Tibetan policy making and openly challenged the Chinese leadership's policies in Tibet. He said, "If we compare the price of the sacrifice we (Tibetans) have made with the development that we have seen, my feeling is that the value of our sacrifice has been far greater. Our sacrifice far outweighs our development."
A few days later, on January 28, 1989 the Panchen Lama passed away after a mysterious illness. The 10th Panchen Lama's sudden death at 50 years of age was a severe blow to the Tibetan nation. Though there is uncertainty as to the cause of his death, there has never been a public investigation. Some suspect he had been poisoned. His 70,000 Character Petition, remained confidential for nearly 34 years and only recently became available outside of the inner most circles of the Communist Party. It has proven to be a vital piece of Sino-Tibetan political history and modern Tibetan thought.
To read the 10th Panchen Lama's 70,000 character petition to the Chinese government on-line, read A Poisoned Arrow: The Secret Report of the 10th Panchen Lama, a publication of the Tibet Information Network.
