The Dalai Lama’s Future Succession: Understanding the 14th Dalai Lama and His Formidable Contributions, a keynote lecture by Dr. Dawa Lokyitsang
This keynote lecture by Dr. Dawa Lokyitsang on “The Dalai Lama’s Future Succession: Understanding the 14th Dalai Lama and His Formidable Contributions” with responses from Tenzin Dorjee (Columbia University), Cameron Warner (Aarhus University), and Nicole Willock (Old Dominion University) took place on September 13, 2024 at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Department of Anthropology. This lecture is part of the Leadership and Reincarnation of the Dalai Lamas Project (LEAD): A Research Network on Succession, Innovation, and Community.
The event was sponsored by the University of Colorado Department of Anthropology, Center for Asian Studies, and Tibet Himalaya Initiative together with the School of Culture and Society at Aarhus University.
At the 23:21 mark I shared a screen shot of the article “Who Will be the Dalai Lama’s Successor,” the name of the author is cut. The author of the article is writer Bhuchung D. Sonam.
Abstract of the lecture:
“At a recent summer tenshug, a long-life ritual and prayer ceremony offered by the Tibetan, Mongolian, and Himalayan communities to the 14th Dalai Lama in New York, the Dalai Lama affirmed once again that he would live well past the age of 100. The crowd responded with boisterous applause. Yet, everyone including the Chinese government, Western academics, Tibetan politicians and activists have been in a rush to weigh in on his future succession. While the Chinese government has suggested he reincarnate under their approval and in accordance with their laws, some former and current Tibetan politicians, activists, and writers who belong to the same network of friends in Dharamsala and abroad have even begun suggesting the Dalai Lama choose a tulku successor while he is alive.
Why is everyone in a rush to discuss the Dalai Lama’s next reincarnation when the current Dalai Lama is still alive and well? To understand how and why debates about the Dalai Lama’s succession have intensified as of late requires a detailed consideration of his leadership in exile. My presentation will historicize and contextualize the 14th Dalai Lama’s ongoing legacy as a refugee leader who created foundational Tibetan institutions in exile for the thrivance of the Tibetan refugee community and their national cause for freedom. This contextualization will serve as the basis for understanding the Dalai Lama as a formidable leader with immense global influence who has been able to shape and challenge the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) international relations in the world and its government’s legitimacy in Tibet. This understanding of the Dalai Lama will serve as the context for why there has been a frenzy to establish how the Dalai Lama’s future should unfold.”