By Tsering Dhundup
DHARAMSHALA, July 22: Renowned historian, author, and Tibetologist Claude Arpi has urged India to extend a warm welcome to the 15th Dalai Lama, just as it did for the 14th Dalai Lama in 1959.
In a recent interview with StratNews Global, Arpi who is also a Distinguished Fellow at the Centre of Excellence for Himalayan Studies at the Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence, emphasised the significance of such a gesture from the Indian government.
“His Holiness the Dalai Lama is the biggest asset for India. So India should say that we would welcome the 15th Dalai Lama in India, the way we have welcomed the 14th Dalai Lama,” Arpi stated. He urged the Ministry of External Affairs to make a meaningful declaration, expressing hope that Dr Jaishankar, the External Affairs Minister, would heed his suggestion. “We have welcomed the 14th Dalai Lama in 1959. We will welcome the 15th Dalai Lama if he decides to take birth or emanate in India,” he elaborated.
Addressing the issue of the Dalai Lama’s succession, Arpi underscored India’s constitutional commitment to secularism in contrast to China’s atheistic governance. “China is an atheist country. But they decide everything on religious affairs, particularly of Tibet. They have no business selecting the Dalai Lama. They don’t know anything about reincarnation. India will not do that,” Arpi asserted. He emphasized that India would not dictate terms to the Dalai Lama regarding his succession.
Arpi suggested that India could encourage the Dalai Lama to announce his succession plans soon, given the concerns of the Himalayan population from Tawang to Sikkim to Lahaul Spiti and Kinnaur. “India could very well say that we will welcome the 15th Dalai Lama. Or if he decides to emanate, we will provide the same facility that we have for the 14th Dalai Lama,” he proposed.
He clarified that this would not interfere with the religious affairs of Tibet or the Dalai Lama’s decision-making. Instead, it would serve as a gesture reaffirming India’s secular stance and support for the Dalai Lama, sending a clear message to China. “We are not interfering in his religious business. But we want to welcome him,” Arpi concluded.
Since 2007, China has declared that the reincarnation of the ‘living Buddhas’ (Dalai and Panchen Lamas) was a key matter for the party. By the order of ‘Decree No 5’, China’s State of Religious Affairs Bureau said reincarnations would only be valued if they were approved by the state. However, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama himself has stated that he, and not the Chinese, would control his re-incarnation, that he will live until he is 113 years old, and that his re-birth could happen in a “free” country.
Claude Arpi is a French-born author, journalist, and Tibetologist who lives in Auroville, India. He is the author of several books including The Fate of Tibet: When Big Insects Eat Small Insects and several articles on Tibet, China, India and Indo-French relations. Claude Arpi is the director of the Pavilion of Tibetan Culture at Auroville.
One Response
Claude Arpi is a long time friend of the Tibetan people and a great admirer of HH The Dalai Lama. He has very good connections with the monk community as far as I am aware of. He took upon himself to built the Pavilion of Tibetan culture in Auroville. In order to built the Tibetan culture pavilion, he brought sand stones from occupied Tibet and laid the foundation with these stones. HH The Dalai Lama visited Auroville at his request and laid the foundation and did the blessing of the land ས་གཞི་བྱིན་བརླབ་ This shows that Tibet is in his heart and his love and respect for the Dalai Lama boundless. One surprising thing that happened was, Tibetan students and others who visited Auroville started to scrap and eat some of the soft part of the foundation stone as part of their emotional calling for Tibet! One could clearly see how the stone was chipped away by gradual chiseling. He is an unassuming and simple person. Even though, he is now one of the most respected Tibetologist in India, he never seem to have any airs around him. Tibetans are truly blessed by people like Claud Arpi who have consistently advocated the independence of Tibet because of Tibet’s history of independence and also for the national security of India. Even though he was born in France, he is a naturalised Indian citizen by virtue of marrying an Indian woman. He demonstrates concern for India’s security as much as he shows his concern for Tibet and its people without independence to preserve its national heritage. Tibet’s religion, culture, calligraphy, poetry and grammar came from India. Tibet’s first king is believed to have come from India. After the battle of Kurukshetra near modern New Delhi, one of the prince of the losing party escaped to Tibet through the Himalayas. When he arrived in Tibet, the Tibetans asked him, where he had came from. He pointed his finger to the heights of the mountains he came through. The Bonpos interpreted that he had come from the heavens and took him on a palanquin on their necks. This was Tibet’s first monarch and came to be known as the neck-throne king གཉའ་ཁྲི་བཙན་པོ་ He was known as Rupati in the Indian language. This information is said to be found in the Tengyur བསྟན་འགྱུར་ which consists of 200 volumes. They are the commentaries of the Kagyur བཀའ་འགྱུར་ Kagyur consists of 100 volumes which are words of the Buddha. TIBETAN CIVILISATION IS INDIC CIVILISATION. IT IS AN EXTENSION OF INDIA’S CIVILISATION. Tibet looked to India as the Arya Bhumi འཕགས་ཡུལ་ the land of the holy one. Therefore, if Tibet was part of any neighbouring country, India has far greater claim in view of cultural, religious, calligraphy, poetry, grammar and ahimsa than China. It is fitting therefore that Claud Arpi calls upon India to show greater interest in the reincarnation tussel by virtue of its historical, cultural and religious ties with Tibet. Were it not for communist China’s brazen disregard for historical precedence, nobody would have anything to do with Dalai Lama’s reincarnation except the designated Lamas for a purely spiritual and religious matter. However, a heathen abomination like the CCP who has no regard for religion and scoffs at as a blind superstition is now putting its blood drenched hand into the entirely spiritual realm. It destroyed more than 6000 monasteries many of them as large as a city were bombed, bulldozed, plundered and razed to the ground in their fanatical anti-Buddhist frenzy. They have put the Afghan Taliban and ISIS to shame for their reckless vandalism! They accused the Dalai Lama of running a “theocratic society” from which they claimed they were “liberating” Tibet! Yet today, they are scrambling to get a hand on the Dalai Lama and his reincarnation!!! HOW INSANE IS THE CCP? IT SHOWS THE CCP THUGS ARE A BUNCH OF LUNATICS! Owing to the thuggish behaviour of the evil CCP, India needs to make a stand on the issue of the 15th Dalai Lama since it has a stack in it in view of emotional and cultural ties that bind the Himalayan people to the Dalai Lama and Tibet. Besides, India has high stakes in the interest of preserving Tibet’s Indic cultural legacy to maintain the warm historical ties between the people of Tibet and India. If China succeeds in Hannification of Tibet, it will spell even more danger for India. Every Indian who visits occupied Tibet tells of the warm friendship of Tibetans towards Indians. This is the bond which tied Tibetans and Indians for centuries and the Indo-Tibet border remained tranquil for perpetuity until communist China’s illegal occupation of Tibet. India stood like an ostrich in the 1950s when Tibet was raped by communist China. That attitude brought today’s insurmountable national security challenges on the Indo-Tibet border. If India repeated the same blunder, it would be even more disastrous if communist Chinese influence gains momentum in the Himalayan region. The Dalai Lama and Tibet are the frontiers of India that India can’t ignore for its own national interest.