BEIJING, March 11 – The chairman of China’s state-controlled Buddhist Association has repudiated both the Dalai Lama and the outlawed Falungong spiritual movement, state media reported Tuesday.
Claiming to speak for all Chinese Buddhists, the newly elected chairman, whose monastic name is Yicheng, blasted the “Dalai Lama separatist group” and the “Falungong evil cult”, the Xinhua news agency said.
“We resolutely oppose the Dalai Lama’s scheme to push forward the independence of Tibet,” Yicheng told the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body he has just joined.
The outlawed Falungong spiritual movement “deluded people in the disguise of Buddhism and was in firm opposition to the Buddhist circle”, Yicheng said, according to Xinhua.
Tibet’s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, exiled since 1959, and the Falungong, banned since 1999, are among the prime targets of propaganda from the Chinese government and institutions that it controls.
During the 44th anniversary of Tibet’s 1959 uprising against Chinese rule Monday, the Dalai Lama reiterated that he was not interested in the independence or separation of Tibet from China, but only autonomy for Tibetans.
In 1959, Tibetans staged a massive protest against what they say was the “invasion” of their country by China.
The uprising resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of Tibetans, and the escape into exile of many more, including the Dalai Lama.
