REAL SYMPATHY FOR "FAKE PANCHEN": MANY TIBETANS

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 BEIJING 002595 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/10/2039 TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL KIRF CH SUBJECT: REAL SYMPATHY FOR "FAKE PANCHEN": MANY TIBETANS SEE LAMA AS VICTIM EVEN AS THEY REJECT HIM REF: 08 BEIJING 4092 Classified By: Political Minister Counselor Aubrey Carlson. Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). Summary -------------- ¶1. (S) Tibetan contacts in Gansu and Qinghai Provinces are resentful of Communist Party efforts to force Tibetan Buddhists to accept Gyaincain Norbu as the 11th Panchen Lama. As the "11th Panchen" (born in 1990) grows into adulthood, however, some Tibetans, especially monks, say they sympathize with him as a fellow victim of Chinese government rule. During PolOff's August 15-25 trip to Qinghai and Gansu, contacts detailed authorities' efforts to drum up attendance during the official Panchen's visits to the region, including paying cash to worshippers and coercing monks to attend chanting sessions led by Norbu. Two monks separately relayed unsubstantiated rumors that the government-approved Panchen, having realized that he is not the true Panchen, is rebelling against his government minders. During the visit, PolOff saw almost no images of Gyaincain Norbu displayed at Tibetan religious sites, with the exception of Labrang Monastery. Even at Labrang, however, photos of the government Panchen were smaller and less numerous that those observed during PolOff's last visit in September 2008. End Summary. Pray for Pay: Officials Use Cash to Ensure Turnout -------------- -------------- ¶2. (S) Duola (strictly protect),a professor of Tibetan language at Northwest University for Nationalities in Lanzhou, Gansu Province, told PolOff August 15 that many Tibetans in China viewed Gyaincain Norbu (recognized by the Chinese government as the 11th Panchen Lama at the age of five in 1995) with sympathy, even though almost none, including Norbu's own teachers and associates, believed he was the real Panchen. For those Tibetans who had actually seen the "11th Panchen," Duola said, their reaction was often one of sadness at the sight of a lonely young man surrounded by armed guards. At the same time, several of Norbu's instructors, including his sutra teacher Jamyang Gyamco, remained highly respected experts in Buddhism. Many Tibetans, Duola asserted, thus viewed Norbu with a degree of respect given his advanced education at the hands of prominent teachers. Also, in light of the poverty in which average Tibetans lived, Norbu was also viewed as simply having good luck. "Tibetans feel he must have done something right in his past life to be chosen by the government and given such a comfortable life." ¶3. (S) Sympathy for Norbu on a personal level, however, apparently does not translate into good attendance at events presided over by "Beijing's Panchen." Duola, whose late father-in-law was a high-ranking Tibetan cadre and the former party secretary of Qinghai's Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, told PolOff that central and provincial officials put great pressure on local cadres to ensure a respectable turnout during the "Panchen's" visits. During Norbu's past trips to Qinghai Province, each village-level Tibetan cadre along the route had been given a quota of "worshippers" to produce. Tibetans who showed up to ceremonies officiated by Norbu had received RMB 50 (USD 7) per day from the government, according to Duola. Most of the participants in these events had been government workers and retirees rather than average Tibetan Buddhists. The Panchen's Awkward Visit to Ta'er Monastery -------------- - ¶4. (S) Tenzin Lopsang Gyaltsen (strictly protect), aka "Jensen," a monk at Ta'er (Kumbum) Monastery near Xining, Qinghai Province, described how officials had demanded that Ta'er monks warmly receive the government Panchen. (Note: The abbot of Ta'er, Arjia Rinpoche, fled to the United States in 1998 because he refused to accept Norbu as the 11th Panchen, making Norbu's presence at the BEIJING 00002595 002 OF 003 monastery particularly sensitive. Our source had difficulty remembering the exact date of the visit. According to media accounts, Gyaincain Norbu visited Ta'er in 2003.) Jensen recalled that when the 10th Panchen (who died in 1989) had visited the area he had been mobbed by huge crowds at every stop. The visit by the government-appointed 11th Panchen, by contrast, had generated very little public interest. Authorities had ordered Ta'er monks to put on an elaborate welcoming ceremony, though Jensen and several other monks had feigned illness and stayed away. When Norbu led Ta'er monks in chanting, initially almost no monks joined in. Jensen, who said he had been pressured to attend the chanting session, told PolOff the scene was so awkward that eventually he and other monks started chanting along with Norbu "out of politeness." During the visit, monks told Norbu and his government entourage that his seating cushion and bowl were the very ones used by the 10th Panchen. In reality, the items had been replicas, and even "pro-government" monks at Ta'er, according to Jensen, had joined in this ruse, and the 10th Panchen's actual cushion and eating utensils had remained locked away. Unwilling Pawn? -------------- ¶5. (S) Jensen told PolOff that by the end of the "11th Panchen's" visit he, and many other monks at Ta'er, had felt sorry for Gyaincain Norbu. Jensen said he believed that the "11th Panchen" could tell that his reception at Ta'er had not been normal and that the teenager gradually became aware that he was not accepted by most Tibetans. Jensen relayed rumors that government minders were present at all of Norbu's tutoring sessions in Beijing to prevent his teachers from revealing the truth to him. The government Panchen, according to one of these rumors, had become enraged at the presence of these monitors and tried unsuccessfully to have them removed. Jensen said Tibetans, recognizing Norbu's high level of education, would be receptive to any compromise that could be reached between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese government regarding Norbu's future status within Tibetan Buddhism. Tibetans, Jensen argued, would even be willing to accept Norbu as a kind of co-Panchen, provided the Dalai Lama agreed. ¶6. (S) Luosang Cicheng Pengcuo (strictly protect),a living Buddha resident at Lucang (Lutsang) Monastery in Guinan (Mangra),Qinghai, told PolOff August 19 that the government had no plans to have the "Panchen" visit his relatively small monastery. He expressed relief that he had not been asked to join in "Panchen"-related events elsewhere in the region. Pengcuo, who in his private study displayed a picture of the Dalai Lama-recognized 11th Panchen, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, predicted he would "suddenly become ill" if he were asked to join in such ceremonies during Norbu's next visit to Qinghai. Pengcuo repeated some of the rumors also relayed by Jensen about the alleged dissatisfaction of Gyaincain Norbu. According to one story circulating among Tibetan monks, the "11th Panchen" was aware of the controversy surrounding his recognition and was plotting to escape abroad. (Note: Post has no evidence to corroborate rumors of Gyaincain Norbu's supposed unhappiness. Though purely speculative, these stories illustrate the sympathy for the government Panchen felt by Tibetan monks who consider Norbu a fellow victim of the Communist Party's attempts to control Tibetan Buddhism.) "Not Our Panchen" -------------- ¶7. (S) Lay Tibetan contacts in Qinghai Province generally expressed indifference to the government- approved Panchen while affirming their reverence for the 10th Panchen. (Note: Tibetans can openly venerate the 10th Panchen since the Communist Party deemed him a "patriotic" figure," unlike the "separatist" Dalai Lama.) Suonan (strictly protect),a Tibetan in his early 20s who lives in Maduo, Qinghai Province, told PolOff he gave the Chinese government credit for raising living standards in his hometown. However, Suonan also said he hoped officials would stop interfering in BEIJING 00002595 003 OF 003 Tibetan Buddhism. Suonan vowed that he would never participate in any religious service involving Norbu because "he is not the real Panchen...he was picked by the Chinese Government, not by Tibetans. The 10th Panchen is whom (Tibetans) believe in." Tashi Dhondup (strictly protect),a resident of Yushu, Qinghai Province, likewise said most Tibetans did not pay much attention to the government Panchen, whom he said Tibetans widely referred to as the "Panchen Zuma," or "fake Panchen." "If the government wants to say he is the Panchen, then that is their business. But for us, he will never be the real Panchen." "11th Panchen" Photos Less Visible -------------- ¶8. (S) During his August 15-25 trip through Tibetan areas of Gansu and Qinghai provinces, PolOff saw no photos of the "official Panchen" displayed in private homes or businesses. By contrast, PolOff saw many photos of the Dalai Lama hung in homes and shops, particularly in Yushu in southern Qinghai. Labrang Monastery in Gansu Province was the only religious site where PolOff saw images of Gyaincain Norbu on display. The size and number of such photos, however, had decreased compared to PolOff's last visit to Labrang in September 2008 (reftel). Several poster-sized portraits of Norbu that were prominently displayed in Labrang's main temples in September 2008 were no longer present when PolOff visited Labrang August 18. Instead, in most temples a smaller photo of the government Panchen was placed to the side. As in 2008, monks at Labrang made only passing, half-hearted reference to these images of the "11th Panchen." HUNTSMAN