The sect controlled Tibet from the 16th century until the Communist takeover. The successive Panchen lamas form a tulku reincarnation lineage which are said to be the incarnations of Amitabha Buddha. The name, meaning "Great Scholar", is a Tibetan contraction of the Sanskrit (scholar) and the Tibetan chenpo (great), but the Fifth Dalai Lama appointed his tutor Lobsang Chökyi Gyalsten head of Tashilhunpo Monastery and exclusively reserved the title Panchen for him, and this title has continued to be given to his successors and, posthumously, to his predecessors starting with Khedrup Je.
There is a controversy about who is the true present (11th) incarnation of the Panchen Lama: the People's Republic of China asserts it is Qoigyijabu, while the Tibetan Government in Exile maintain it is Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, who was arrested at the age of six years by the Chinese in 1995. He then became the world's youngest political prisoner.
Relation to the Dalai Lama lineage
The Panchen Lama bears part of the responsibility for finding the incarnation of the Dalai Lama and vice versa. In the case of the Panchen Lama, the religious procedures traditionally involve a final selection process by the Dalai Lama. This has been the tradition since the Fifth Dalai lama, Ngawang Lobsang, recognized his teacher as the Panchen (Great Scholar) Lama of Tashilhunpo Monastery (Bkra-shis Lhung-po) in Shigatse (Gzhis-ka rtse). With this appointment, Lobsang Choekyi Gyaltsen's three previous incarnations were posthumously recognised as Panchen Lamas. The Fifth Dalai Lama also recognized Panchen Lobsang Yeshe (Blo-bzang Ye-shes) as the Fifth Panchen Lama. The Seventh Dalai Lama recognized the Sixth Panchen Lama, who in turn recognized the Eighth Dalai Lama. Similarly, the Eighth Dalai Lama recognised the Seventh Panchen Lama.
Choekyi Gyaltsen, the 10th Panchen Lama, was an important political figure in Tibet following the 14th Dalai Lama's escape to India in 1959. He was enthroned on June 11, 1949 in Amdo (Qinghai) under the auspice of Chinese officials after the KMT administration approved the selection of the reincarnation of the 9th Panchen Lama. [2] In 1954, he was elected as the vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. However, during the Cultural Revolution in 1968 he was imprisoned; in 1977, he was released but held under house arrest in Beijing until 1982. In 1983, he married a Chinese woman and had a daughter, highly controversial behavior for a Gelug lama. In 1989, the 10th Panchen Lama died suddenly in Shigatse, Tibet at the age of 51, shortly after giving a speech critical of the Chinese occupation. His daughter, now a young woman, is Yabshi Pan Rinzinwangmo, better known as "Renji." Although some organizations have criticized the 10th Panchen Lama as a Chinese puppet (or worse), most scholars (and the 14th Dalai Lama) believe that he did the best that he could to help his people in an impossible situation.
11th Panchen Lama
Following the unexpected death of the 10th Panchen Lama in 1989, the search for his reincarnation quickly became mired in political controversy. Chadrel Rinpoche, the head of the search committee, was able to secretly communicate with the Dalai Lama. However, after the Dalai Lama announced Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the new Panchen Lama, Chinese authorities arrested Chadrel Rinpoche, who was replaced with Sengchen Lobsang Gyaltsen. Sengchen had been a political opponent of the previous Panchen Lama, as had the Dalai Lama himself. The new search committee decided to ignore the Dalai Lama's announcement and choose the Panchen Lama from a list of finalists, which did not include Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, by drawing lots from the Golden Urn. Gyancain Norbu was announced as the search committee's choice on November 11, 1995.
The whereabouts of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima are unknown. The Government of Tibet in Exile claims that he and his family continue to be political prisoners, and has termed him the "youngest political prisoner in the world". The Chinese government claims that he is attending school and leading a normal life somewhere in China, and that his whereabouts are kept undisclosed to protect him.
From Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panchen_Lama
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