Can the Dalai Lama Resign?

How can someone recognized as the reincarnation of the Buddha of compassion "resign"? The exiled Dalai Lama announced this week that he would do just that if the violence in Tibet got out of control. But he was offering to resign only his political roles. He would continue as a reincarnation, living a life of contemplation, but no one would need pay any attention to what he said: in fact, he was offering to turn into a sort of Tibetan Rowan Williams.

Political and religious authority were very closely intertwined in Tibetan Buddhism. The reincarnate heads of the religion's four great schools were the most powerful political figures in the country before the Chinese invasion; but because their successors would be reincarnations, they couldn't hope to pass power on to their families as the medieval popes did.

The present Dalai Lama, now 73, was recognized as an incarnation when he was two, before the Chinese occupation. Since he fled in 1959, he has tried, with some success, to democratize Tibetan exile politics; but it is still true that Tibetans follow him because he is the recognized reincarnation of a Boddhisattva. Outside Tibet, his authority derives from the perception that he is a wise and holy man. And so he is. But he is also very shrewd.

It may be this shrewdness that has produced his offer to resign.

It clearly demonstrates that his leadership of the Tibetan people derives from their consent, and not just from reincarnation. Because when it is time for this Dalai Lama to die, his reincarnation will be chosen by the Chinese, who control the territory where he will be born. And given the prospect of a puppet leader, the precedent of a Dalai Lama without political authority may be the best legacy this one could leave his country.