China to train cadres of Tibetan monks to counter Dalai Lama
The Chinese government is setting up the first-ever academy of Tibetan – reports times of India
Buddhism in the Tibet autonomous region in south western China. Construction on the $11.7 million project began on Saturday. The project
located near Lhasa is being fully funded by the Central government in Beijing.
The academy will train "patriotic and devotional religious personnel" with strong religious accomplishments and moral character, a senior government official said.
This is seen by government critics as an attempt to build an officially approved cadre of monks in order to dilute the influence of defiant monks in Tibet, some of whom have faith in the Dalai Lama.
Chinese government critics saw in this move an attempt by the Communist Party to reinforce its belief that Tibetan Buddhism with its many variations is independent of the Dalai Lama. The party regards the Dalai Lama as a politician, who is set to damage Tibetan culture.
"Dalai Lama and his clique and the anti-China forces in the West conspire to force the Tibetan ethnic group and its culture to stagnate and remain in a state similar to the Middle Ages," the government said in a recent White Paper on Tibet.
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