The Panchen Lama, who vanished 20 years ago at the age of six after being chosen by the Dalai Lama as the next-highest figure in Tibetan Buddhism, is “growing up healthily and does not wish to be disturbed”, a Chinese government official who serves as a liaison to the Tibetans said yesterday.
Gendun Choekyi Nyima was taken into custody in 1995 by Chinese authorities after Tibetan religious leaders recognised him as the latest reincarnation of the Panchen Lama. He has not been seen in public since. Norbu Dunzhub, a member of the Tibet Autonomous Region’s United Front Work Department, told reporters he was “living a normal life” but did not specify where.
The Panchen and Dalai Lamas have historically vied with each other for religious and political power in Tibet. Control over the arcane procedure for choosing their reincarnations is a key to political legitimacy on the strategic and ethnically distinct Tibetan plateau, location of the headwaters of most of China’s largest rivers.