| In Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama is | | | | |
| revered as a king and also as a god. His | | | | The current Dalai Lama escaped from Tibet to |
| office is primarily secular in nature. He is | | | | India in 1959 when China invaded Tibet. Upon |
| the head of government as well as the | | | | the death of the Panchen Lama in 1989, the |
| spiritual head. He is clearly in charge. The | | | | Elders set upon an exhaustive search for a |
| Panchen Lama, by way of contrast, is afforded | | | | young boy in whom they believed the spirit of |
| reverence more as a scholar, spiritual | | | | the deceased Panchen Lama had been |
| teacher, and spiritual theoretician. There is | | | | reincarnated. With the assent of the Dalai |
| somewhat of a mentor-student relationship | | | | Lama, (which assent they surreptitously |
| between the two. The Panchen Lama does not | | | | obtained), the Elders identified a 6-year-old |
| automatically become the new Dalai Lama upon | | | | boy, Nyima, as the new Panchen Lama. This |
| the death of the Dalai Lama. | | | | selection was unpalatable to the leadership |
| | | | of China, whereupon they kidnapped Nyima and |
| Belief in reincarnation is a fundamental | | | | his family and have held them incommunicado |
| tenet of Tibetan Buddhism. Upon the death of | | | | ever since. Nyima would now be 19 years of |
| the Dalai Lama or of the Panchen Lama, the | | | | age. At or about the same time, China |
| Elders engage upon a search for a young boy | | | | installed a so-called "Panchen Lama" of its |
| in whom the spirit of the departed one is | | | | own choosing, also a young boy, and installed |
| said to be reincarnated. The surviving Dalai | | | | him in Tibet under force of arms. Riots in |
| Lama or Panchen Lama will take part in the | | | | protest erupted throughout the country. |
| identification process. | | | | |