The geopolitics of Buddhist reincarnation: contested futures of Tibetan leadership

In attending to a religion and a region often overlooked in critical geopolitics, this paper examines the intersections between issues of legitimacy, agency and authority, and the case of T ibetan B uddhism. Buddhist values and political policies are deeply intertwined in the Tibetan case, to the extent that the political philosophy of T ibet – both prior to 1959 and in exile – is chos srid gnyis ldan , or ‘religion and politics combined’. Central to this conflation has been the figure of the D alai L ama who, since 1642, has been the spiritual and political leader of Tibet. However, in March 2011, the current and 14th D alai L ama declared his retirement from political life and devolution of political power to the directly elected exile P rime M inister ( K alon T ripa). Six months later, His H oliness issued a statement on the future of his own successor, declaring that he has the ‘sole legitimate authority’ over the reincarnation of the next D alai L ama. Within days the C hinese Government responded by declaring that ‘the title of D alai L ama is conferred by the central government and is illegal otherwise’. In historically contextualising and critically analysing these recent events, this paper challenges conventional transpositional mappings of secular modernity and religious traditionalism onto the C hinese and T ibetan leadership respectively. It concludes by making the case for a more sustained critical geopolitical engagement with B uddhist communities, leaders and politics.