Xi asks Panchen Lama to be Tibetan Buddhism's patriotic leader

The Panchen Lama, being groomed by China to emerge as a top Tibetan Buddhist monk to succeed the ageing Dalai Lama, was given a high political profile today by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who asked him to be a patriotic "leader" of Tibetan Buddhism and uphold traditions.
In a rare meeting with the 11th Panchen Lama Bainqen Erdini Gyaincain Norbu, 25, Xi said he expects the young monk to grow into "a Tibetan Buddhist leader with great religious achievement, deeply loved by the monks and secular followers."
In Tibetan Buddhist religious hierarchy, the Dalai Lama, who currently lives in Dharamshala since he fled Tibet in 1959 after an epic 15-day journey on foot over the Himalayas, is regarded as the highest religious head followed by the Panchen Lama.

China has been promoting the young Lama to take over the leadership from the 79-year-old Dalai Lama.
Urging him to carry on the patriotic tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, Xi, also the General Secretary of the ruling Communist Party, hoped that the Panchen Lama will keep the motherland and its people in his heart and firmly work for the unification of the country and all its ethnic groups, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Norbu was made the 11th Panchen Lama by an officially atheist China in 1995 when he was only five. The Panchen Lama is the second most influential spiritual post in Tibetan Buddhism after the Dalai Lama.

His predecessor the six-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima was appointed to the same post by Tibet's current spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, in 1995. Nyima was alleged to have been imprisoned and later released.

Since then, Norbu has received a high profile. In 2010, he was made the member of advisory body the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the Vice President of Buddhist Association of China.
He visits Tibet, specially the Shigatse, traditionally regarded as the seat of power of the Panchen Lamas.
In his meeting with the Panchen Lama, Xi asked him to carry on the patriotic tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, in an apparent dig at the Dalai Lama whom China accuses of separatism.

Xi said he expects the Panchen Lama to carry on the legacy of his predecessor and actively engage with the cause to incorporate Tibetan Buddhism into a socialist society under the Buddhist principles of equality and compassion among all beings.
In response, the Panchen Lama promised to unswervingly safeguard national unity and ethnic harmony.
He also said he would bear in mind Xi's advice, to learn hard and work vigorously to make his contribution to Tibetan Buddhism and socialist construction, so as to live up to the expectations of the people.