This news article is great as it shows that the China government is endorsing the works of the Panchen Lama. And that the China Government is supporting Tibetan Buddhism.
When the China Government supports the Panchen Lama, then the Chinese people will follow what their government says. With this the practice of Dorje Shugden will grow also. This is because the Panchen Lama practices Dorje Shugden. It is also China's history and heritage that the Emperor Sun Ji is a practitioner of Dorje Shugden, so it is not something new. The acceptance of Dorje Shugden by the Chinese people would be easier.
With China supporting the Panchen Lama, i think they hope that the Panchen Lama would reciprocate also and start to influence Tibetans to be peaceful and stay united with China.
May this meeting speed up the lift of the ban!
This is the false Panchen Lama. How can a non-Buddhist, non believer of religon such as the Chinese govt find a Tulku. They don't even believe in higher states of mind, reincarnation and the power of Tulkus to choose their rebirth.
How can you choose a candidate of a reincarnated Panchen Lama when you don't even believe there is reincarnation? Does it make sense??
Then once this 'Panchen Lama' is installed by a Communist atheistic govt, the Shugden followers all lavish praises on this Panchen and go and meet him, and further the propaganda. How does it make you look?
Why would you believe in this Panchen hand picked by the Chinese govt? By what spiritual powers authorizes the Chinese govt to select the genuine Panchen Rinpoche?
For that being to be picked by the Chinese Government to be the 11th Panchen Lama requires a specific type of karma.
Is he the re-incarnation, is he not? I personally don't know, I can't say. But on the same ground, who am I to say he is not neither?
So I think it is best to keep an open mind before I simply reject everything and inspect the clues.
Of course, we have Gangchen Rinpoche paying his respect to the 11th Panchen Lama.
That is one clue, but if that is not enough, let's also look in the past and see if history can give us some more clues, some tools to put a little bit of perspective, to add some further dimensions to the play.
It is not the first time that the Chinese government interferes with who should be leading Tibetan affairs
I take for example
Kelzang Gyatso, the 7th Dalai Lama, who replaced
Ngawang Yeshey Gyatso, the 6th Dalai Lama (#2) while he was still alive. The 6th Dalai Lama (#2) was installed by
Lha-bzang Khan, a Mongol king, to replace
Tsangyang Gyatso, the 6th Dalai Lama (#1) on the ground of misbehavior (there is more to say about that though) while he was still alive also.
from wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7th_Dalai_Lama"
Kelzang Gyatso was born in Lithang of Eastern Tibet, in the present-day Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of present-day Sichuan province.
At that time, the Dalai Lama's throne in Lhasa was occupied by Ngawang Yeshey Gyatso, who had been installed by as "the real 6th Dalai Lama" in place of Tsangyang Gyatso.
Ngawang Yeshey Gyatso still held this position (though most Tibetans did not consider him to be a legitimate Dalai Lama) when a monk at Litang monastery, spontaneously channeling the Nechung Oracle, identified Kelzang Gyatso as the reincarnation of Tsangyang Gyatso.
Since this presented a contradiction of Lha-bzang Khan's Dalai Lama, it was a controversial matter and potentially dangerous to the child.
Subsequently, the Tibetan leader of a delegation from Lhasa covertly confirmed that the child was Tsangyang Gyatso's reincarnation.
The child was quietly taken into Litang monastery for protection and training.
In 1715, the Qing emperor Kangxi sponsored Kelzang Gyatso's entrance into Kumbum Monastery.
This entrance was marked by formal ceremonies due to a Dalai Lama and thus signified a public challenge to Lha-bzang Khan's Dalai Lama.
He was ordained by Ngawang Lobsang Tenpai Gyaltsen.
The Dzungars invaded Tibet in 1717, deposed Ngawang Yeshey Gyatso, which met with widespread approval, and killed Lha-bzang Khan.
However, they soon began to loot, rape and kill throughout Lhasa, destroying Tibetan goodwill towards them.
They also viciously destroyed a small force sent by Emperor Kangxi in 1718 to support clear traditional trade routes.
A second, larger, expedition sent by Emperor Kangxi, together with Tibetan forces under Polhaney (also spelled Polhanas) of Tsang and Gangchenney (also spelled Kanchenas), the governor of Western Tibet, expelled the Dzungars from Tibet in 1720.
They brought Kelzang Gyatso with them from Kumbum to Lhasa and he was enthroned as the seventh Dalai Lama in the Potala Palace in 1721, or in November 1720.
He took the novice vows of monk-hood from the 5th Panchen Lama Lobsang Yeshi, who gave him the name Kelsang Gyatso.
"I do not mean to debate here the 6th, the second 6th, the 7th or other Dalai Lamas, that is not my point.
My point is that enlightened beings live along sentient beings and work with them, with their delusions, for their good.
There can also be emanations of enlightened beings who do not necessarily live as monks but find themselves in places where they can and will help the growth of the Dharma, whether they know themselves as emanations or not.
I have seen myself, and this is from direct personal account (and confirmed by my Guru), I have seen people born in traditionally non-Buddhist countries, and that had embraced another religion totally still recognize their guru, their lama, and develop devotion without having to change the religion they had embraced in this life and help their guru in a way that would be impossible to do from a Buddhist stand.
We also have examples of very high lamas reincarnating as head of states, and build the ground, build the secular foundation for the Dharma to grow in the future.
Maybe this 11th Panchen Lama is not qualified (I don't know), maybe he isn't, but then perhaps the 12th Panchen Lama will be qualified and recognized without any doubt. So if this is to be, why burn the bridge?
I think, on the matter here we need to apply investigation with an open mind and remain at the service of the bigger picture with
Guru devotion and
bodhicitta always.
One must always follow the instructions of his Guru with faith.
What must be done must be done for the benefit of others now and for the future generation.
"One is to follow His Guru's instruction with faith, for the merit gained comes from that, not from the action itself."