PROFILES IN COURAGE: DAY 13 – FEBRUARY 26TH

Choekyi Gyaltsen, 10th Panchen Lama (1938-1989)

Born Gonpo Tsetan on February 19, 1938 in Amdo, Choekyi Gyaltsen was recognized as the 10th incarnation of the Panchen Lama in June 1949, just as Chinese troops began their invasion of eastern TIbet.

The Panchen Lama is regarded by Tibetan Buddhists as the embodiment of the Buddha Amitabha, and is the second most significant figure in the Gelugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism, and therefore the Tibetan nation. The traditional  seat of the Panchen Lama is Tashilhunpo monastery in Shigatse, Tibet’s second largest city.

After China invaded Tibet and the Tibetan government was forced to sign the 17 Point Agreement, both the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama attempted to work with the Chinese government. However, when the Dalai Lama escaped to India after Tibetans rose up against Chinese rule in March 1959, the Panchen Lama, then 21, stayed in Tibet.

Initially, the 10th Panchen Lama attempted to cooperate with the Chinese government. However, by the early 1960s, he observed that Chinese policies in Tibet were resulting in widespread suffering, including mass starvation, and decided to use his position to deliver what became known as the ’70,000 Character Petition,’ a report critical of the Chinese government’s policies in Tibet. Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedung called the petition “… a poisoned arrow shot at the Party by reactionary feudal overlords.” In 1964, the Panchen Lama was publicly humiliated at Politburo meetings, dismissed from all posts of authority, declared ‘an enemy of the Tibetan people’, and imprisoned. He was only 24 years old.

In October of 1977, the Panchen Lama was released from prison but placed under house arrest in Beijing, before finally being released in 1982. He was “politically rehabilitated” and became Vice Chairman of China’s National People’s Congress. Although he remained in Beijing, he devoted all of his energy to the revival of Tibetan religion and culture, which had been devastated during the Cultural Revolution.

In January 1989, the Panchen Lama returned to Tibet for the first time in three decades. Upon his return, he was welcomed in Shigatse by a crowd of 30,000 Tibetans. His speech to the crowd was critical of Chinese policies in Tibet, and included the statement that, “Since liberation, there has certainly been development, but the price paid for this development has been greater than the gains.”

Five days later, the 10th Panchen Lama died after allegedly suffering a massive heart attack. Many Tibetans maintain that he was murdered due to eyewitnesses who claimed his body showed signs of having been poisoned.

In 1995, Gendun Choekyi Nyima was recognized as the 11th reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, but the boy and his family were abducted shortly after and have not been seen since. The Chinese government installed another boy in his place and insists that Tibetans worship him as the Panchen Lama.

Because Tibetans are not allowed to possess or display photos of either the Dalai Lama or the true 11th Panchen Lama, it is very common to find photos of the 10th Panchen Lama in monasteries and homes in Tibet: a tribute to a leader who spoke up for Tibetans at risk to his own life and liberty, and a quiet but clear sign of non-compliance with the Chinese government’s installation of a fake Panchen Lama.