Kto bude 15. dalajlamom? Tulkuovia v čínskej náboženskej politike

The first part of the paper provides brief religious and historical background information on the institution of Buddhist reincarnations (Tib. trulku) in Tibet, where ascension to power of the 5th Dalai Lama in 1642 in Central Tibet embodied the unique political and religious role played by trulkus in the traditional Tibetan political system. The main part of the article deals with the status of trulkus in the post-1949 socialist China where their status and privileges were only vaguely guaranteed by the 17-Point Agreement signed in May 1951. The “democratic reform of the religious system” launched by Chinese authorities in Tibetan areas in the summer of 1958 marked the beginning of the elimination of Tibetan Buddhism and persecution of the trulkus which reached its peak during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976). The religious revival which has unfolded since the late 1970s resulted in the resurrection of the traditional high religious status of the trulkus who played a crucial role in the renewal of Tibetan Buddhism. With the death of the late 10th Panchen Lama in 1989 and the overall tightening of the control of Tibetan Buddhist monasteries since the early 1990s the issue of the selection process of new trulkus re-emerged. The strong continuity of the Chinese approach towards Tibet was illustrated by the use of the procedure of “drawing lots from a golden urn” (established in 1793) for selecting the Chinese choice of the 11th Panchen Lama in 1995 which has stirred up a controversy between Tibetans and the Chinese government. The promulgation of the “Management Measures for the Reincarnation of Living Buddhas in Tibetan Buddhism” in July 2007 represents the attempt of the Chinese authorities to tightly control the selection process of Buddhist reincarnations especially with the focus on the future 15th Dalai Lama, which is considered a crucial issue in the Tibet policy. The final part of the paper provides an analysis of this document (which represents the first administrative measure formulated by the government of the PRC dealing with this issue) in the context of Chinese religious policy and overall approach towards Tibet.