Books: Why the destiny of a nation rests with a boy

Having occupied large swathes of western China, in 763 the victorious army of the mighty Tibetan empire swept into Chang-an, the Tang Dynasty capital of China. This little known fact, so carefully unmentioned by the present-day government of China, perhaps holds the key to all subsequent dealings between China and Tibet. Could the memory of injured pride lie at the heart of recent Chinese attempts to eradicate Tibet's national identity?

The restrained Tibetan conduct during their medieval invasion of China contrasts starkly with the behaviour of the Chinese in Tibet since 1950. The Chinese government seems to have taken every opportunity to destroy a unique and ancient culture. Just as in medieval Europe, the various Tibetan monastic institutions were great repositories of learning, providing stability and continuity in a society permeated by Buddhist culture. Yet within two decades of invading Tibet, the Chinese had managed to destroy 97 per cent of all monasteries and temples within the space of a few decades.

In her book The Search for the Panchen Lama, the well-known journalist Isabel Hilton illustrates with stark clarity the true intentions of the Chinese government with regard to their unfortunate Tibetan neighbours through their cynical manipulation of ancient religious institutions. Central to the recent events that Hilton's book describes is the uniquely Tibetan concept of reincarnating Buddhist teachers. Though the belief in rebirth is universal to all Buddhists, the specific idea that certain outstanding people have the ability to choose the time and place of their return to the world seems to have been a Tibetan innovation.

Following the collapse of the Tibetan empire in the late ninth century, the country experienced several centuries of political disintegration. In the absence of a strong central power, the chief monasteries of the various Buddhist schools took over as the centres of political power in medieval Tibet. Since Buddhist monks cannot provide heirs in the normal manner, the Tibetans devised another method of dealing with the problem of legitimate succession. In 1283, following the death of the leader of the powerful Karma Kagyu school, his disciples declared that he had been reincarnated in the person of an infant, Rangchung Dorje, who was installed as the second patriarch of the Karma Kagyu lineage. Seeing the advantages of this innovation, all the other major schools gradually adopted it as a means of providing stability and continuity.

Yet this system, which has served the Tibetans so well for centuries now, threatens to have catastrophic effects for them as a nation. Though the Dalai Lama is well-known and respected as the exiled leader of the Tibetan people, fewer people know of his important counterpart, the Panchen Lama. As Hilton describes, there is a symbiotic relationship between the Dalai and the Panchen Lamas which the current Chinese government is attempting to use to their own advantage.

The office of the Panchen Lama began in the 17th century when Lobsang Choekyi, the abbot of Tashilhunpo monastery, secured the recognition and instalment of the child who was to become the great Fifth Dalai Lama. During the latter's youth, Lobsang Choekyi acted as his mentor and for this was granted the title of Panchen Lama. Like the Dalai Lamas, the Panchen Lamas were thought to reincarnate themselves generation after generation. Though at times the relationship between these successive Dalai and Panchen Lamas was less than cordial as the Panchen Lamas tried to exert their own power, there was one vital service they continued to fulfil for each other. Due to the age difference between the Fifth Dalai Lama and the first Panchen Lama, their successors have tended to follow the same pattern - one is always older than the other and thus can act as a kind of regent. More importantly, the identity of each one's reincarnation is validated by the other.

Though weak in details concerning Buddhist doctrines, Hilton's book covers a brief outline of Tibetan history while focusing on the role of the Panchen Lamas. She recounts the problems that arose as a result of the epic quarrel between the Thirteenth Dalai Lama and his counterpart, the Ninth Panchen Lama, during the early part of this century. These difficulties led to the alliance of interests between the Chinese authorities and the Ninth Panchen Lama, an alliance which has possibly encouraged the Chinese government to view the Panchen Lamas as their puppets. Following the invasion of Tibet in 1950, the fates of the current Dalai Lama and the Tenth Panchen Lama - who died in 1989 in suspicious circumstances - have been in stark contrast. The Dalai Lama went into exile and rose on the world stage as a champion of his people and Nobel laureate, while the Panchen Lama remained with the Communist occupiers of his country, reviled by many exiled Tibetans as a collaborator and at times by the Chinese as a reactionary. Hilton's book is a timely account of the political tight-rope this courageous but politically naive man tried to walk. The accounts of Hilton's several visits to people in China, Tibet and among the exiles in India who knew him make fascinating reading.

The title of the book refers to the tragic search for the Tenth Panchen Lama's successor and thus covers in great detail the struggle between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama over who should control the selection and authentication of the child deemed to be the Eleventh Panchen Lama. What is at stake goes far beyond the fate of one young boy and may well determine the survival of the Tibetan people themselves. By perverting the traditional Tibetan religious processes and substituting their own candidate, the Chinese government evidently hopes to control the person who will eventually be called upon to authenticate the reincarnation of the present Dalai Lama upon his death. In this way they will gain control over religious Tibetan affairs and silence any independent criticism of their policies in Tibet. Since the Chinese government often seems sensitive to external criticism, one hopes that this book will succeed in alerting a wider audience to their schemes before it is too late.

Stephen Hodge is the author of `Tibetan Buddhism' (Piatkus pounds 5.99)