Religion: Buddha & the Reds

"I will take birth again," said the 13th Dalai Lama of Tibet. In 1933 he died, and the oracles and seers began their search for the new body of this living Buddha, an Incarnation of the Tibetan god Chen-re-zi. The first sign came while the body of the dead Dalai Lama still sat in state; its head, which had been turned traditionally toward the south, mysteriously turned east. To the seers this was an indication that the new Dalai Lama must be looked for in the east. In retrospect, they might give it a different meaning. For since then Tibet has been conquered from the east by Red China, which is currently carrying on a vigorous campaign to woo Asia's 150 million Buddhists.

Ruler into Doll. In time, the new Dalai Lama was found. Tibet's regent made a pilgrimage to the prophetic waters of Lake Cho Khor Gye and saw reflected in its depths a three-story monastery with golden roofs, near which stood a small peasant house with carved gables. Expeditions of monks were duly sent forth and at last one of them came upon the gold-roofed monastery and gabled peasant house. Disguising themselves as servants, the monks entered through the kitchen, and a two-year-old boy ran toward one of them crying, "Sera Lama, Sera Lama!" At this the monks' hearts leaped, for their leader was indeed the Lama of the Sera Monastery. Other tests were made: the boy unerringly chose from a number of rosaries the one that had been used by the old Dalai Lama, and he selected the drum with which the ruler had summoned his servants.

The boy's name was Jetsun Jampel Ngawang Lobsang Yishey Tenzing Gyatso, and when he was only four years old, he became the 14th Dalai Lama. In 1950 the Chinese Communists began their invasion of Tibet, and the 15-year-old ruler fled Lhasa. Eventually the Communists persuaded him to return. Since then the young Dalai Lama and his junior, the Panchen Lama, Tibet's second most important Incarnation, have lived like highly prized dolls in the hands of Tibet's Communist masters, powerless, yet indispensable because of the religious fealty they command. Last week the Dalai Lama was being feted in India, having been allowed for the first time to travel outside his Red prison. Seldom had India given such a welcome to a foreigner.