Golden Child
At an informal talk in New York last November I solemnly predicted that the media attention received by Tibet in 1959 will only be matched on the day it regains independence. Recently I have been too busy eating those words to join the media celebration over Osel Torre, the two years old Spanish boy who has been recognised as the reincarnation of a Tibetan monk named Thubten Yeshi. I don’t think there has been any news paper or magazine of any size in any language, in any part of the world, which did not devote some space to this phenomenon. Why then “the foremost journal on Tibetan affairs,” as we are never tired of calling ourselves, is maintaining this inscrutable silence? Since this observation seems to be troubling some of our faithful readers, a brief explanation is in order.
When I first heard the news—forgive me—I didn’t think it was all that important (That’s what happens if you go to America to be trained as a journalist.) In the Tibetan world, discovery of a reincarnation somewhere or other is such a regular occurrence that only the nationally important ones are regarded as 6 O’clock News material. If the Tibetan Review has to report every discovery, there won’t be much space left for anything else.
The late Thupten Yeshi did an admirable job of teaching Buddhism to Westerners and he is rightly venerated by his disciples. It is also possible—although not strictly necessary—for such a person to be reborn as a son of one of these disciple. However, they should not be offended if the same kind of veneration is not forthcoming from the Tibetans. For them Thubten Yeshi was not as important as many other lamas, and indeed these lamas may not be as important as Thubten Yeshi to his disciples. Similarly, other groups of Western Buddhists have their own Tibetan masters whom they regard as of paramount importance.
It is sufficient that Yeshi’s disciples are satisfied with the choice of Osel Torre, and the matter should have been allowed to rest there. Unfortunately, the disciples chose to build up a media image of him as one of the most important lamas. And look what happened! Some Tibetans could not take it lying down and spoke their minds to inquisitive journalists.
The paper then gave the impression that there is some sort of power struggle between Tibetans and Westerners at the Nepal headquarters of the world wide Buddhist centres founded by the late teacher. There is no such thing, for the simple reason that there is no Tibetan pretender to this particular throne.
The whole exercise created sensational and inaccurate headlines, such as : “Baby boy in Spain to be worshipped in Tibet.” Or reports that the child is propelled to “one of the highest seats of Tibetan Buddhism today,” that he is “a senior Tibetan Lama,” that “the Dalai Lama was to perform the puja (at his enthronement)m” that “none from the Dalai Lama’s secretariat was present during the ceremony, which is obligatory,” and that Osel Torres is “the first Western reincarnated high Lama” for whose long life “the high priests of Mahayana Buddhism have begun sacred prayers.”
Some of the papers said the Dalai Lama himself conducted the tests to confirm the reincarnation. It would be physically impossible for the Dalai Lama to perform tests on each and every one of the multitude of reincarnations presented to him for his blessings. He only conductst tests on top-level reincarnations, such as his own two tutors, the reincarnation of one of whom has not yet been discovered despite four years of intensive search. This is not unusual. In fact one of the few accurate newspaper descriptions of the child could very well be that he is “the youngest lama in the world”.
Some of the highest ranking and best known Tibetan lamas have passed away in exile and the reincarnations discovered. Hardly any of them ever received a passing mention in the conventional press. The reason is that their parents and disciples would never think it necessar that they should also be media celebrities. It is also not true that Osel Torre is the first Western child to be recognised as the reincarnation of a Tibetan Lama. We know of the existence of at least four others who preceded him. Newspaper reporters have never heard of them and consequently, neither have their readers. Guess now?
At an informal talk in New York last November I solemnly predicted that the media attention received by Tibet in 1959 will only be matched on the day it regains independence. Recently I have been too busy eating those words to join the media celebration over Osel Torre, the two years old Spanish boy who has been recognised as the reincarnation of a Tibetan monk named Thubten Yeshi. I don’t think there has been any news paper or magazine of any size in any language, in any part of the world, which did not devote some space to this phenomenon. Why then “the foremost journal on Tibetan affairs,” as we are never tired of calling ourselves, is maintaining this inscrutable silence? Since this observation seems to be troubling some of our faithful readers, a brief explanation is in order.
When I first heard the news—forgive me—I didn’t think it was all that important (That’s what happens if you go to America to be trained as a journalist.) In the Tibetan world, discovery of a reincarnation somewhere or other is such a regular occurrence that only the nationally important ones are regarded as 6 O’clock News material. If the Tibetan Review has to report every discovery, there won’t be much space left for anything else.
The late Thupten Yeshi did an admirable job of teaching Buddhism to Westerners and he is rightly venerated by his disciples. It is also possible—although not strictly necessary—for such a person to be reborn as a son of one of these disciple. However, they should not be offended if the same kind of veneration is not forthcoming from the Tibetans. For them Thubten Yeshi was not as important as many other lamas, and indeed these lamas may not be as important as Thubten Yeshi to his disciples. Similarly, other groups of Western Buddhists have their own Tibetan masters whom they regard as of paramount importance.
It is sufficient that Yeshi’s disciples are satisfied with the choice of Osel Torre, and the matter should have been allowed to rest there. Unfortunately, the disciples chose to build up a media image of him as one of the most important lamas. And look what happened! Some Tibetans could not take it lying down and spoke their minds to inquisitive journalists.
The paper then gave the impression that there is some sort of power struggle between Tibetans and Westerners at the Nepal headquarters of the world wide Buddhist centres founded by the late teacher. There is no such thing, for the simple reason that there is no Tibetan pretender to this particular throne.
The whole exercise created sensational and inaccurate headlines, such as : “Baby boy in Spain to be worshipped in Tibet.” Or reports that the child is propelled to “one of the highest seats of Tibetan Buddhism today,” that he is “a senior Tibetan Lama,” that “the Dalai Lama was to perform the puja (at his enthronement)m” that “none from the Dalai Lama’s secretariat was present during the ceremony, which is obligatory,” and that Osel Torres is “the first Western reincarnated high Lama” for whose long life “the high priests of Mahayana Buddhism have begun sacred prayers.”
Some of the papers said the Dalai Lama himself conducted the tests to confirm the reincarnation. It would be physically impossible for the Dalai Lama to perform tests on each and every one of the multitude of reincarnations presented to him for his blessings. He only conductst tests on top-level reincarnations, such as his own two tutors, the reincarnation of one of whom has not yet been discovered despite four years of intensive search. This is not unusual. In fact one of the few accurate newspaper descriptions of the child could very well be that he is “the youngest lama in the world”.
Some of the highest ranking and best known Tibetan lamas have passed away in exile and the reincarnations discovered. Hardly any of them ever received a passing mention in the conventional press. The reason is that their parents and disciples would never think it necessar that they should also be media celebrities. It is also not true that Osel Torre is the first Western child to be recognised as the reincarnation of a Tibetan Lama. We know of the existence of at least four others who preceded him. Newspaper reporters have never heard of them and consequently, neither have their readers. Guess now?
posted by editorla at
9:13 PM
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