The Chinese government and separatists are fighting for control over Living Buddhas, spiritual figures believed to be the reincarnation of another Living Buddha, according to a report by the Global Times.
"Living Buddhas can be a peaceful power, but also a 'weapon of mass destruction' if used by evil or splittist forces," said an ethnic and religious commentator called Zhou Quan in an interview with the Global Times.
Zhou serves as a columnist for m4.cn, a political commentary website based in Beijing.
Intermediate- and high-level Living Buddhas in particular can be very influential among pilgrims, Zhou added.
To help solidify its authority over Living Buddhas, the Chinese government has established an online database of verified Living Buddhas. An honorary title locally known as tulku, the privilege of being a Living Buddha is given to a child who is believed to be the reincarnation of another Living Buddha.
A rumor rose late March about Zhu Weiqun, a chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference's Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee. According to reports, Zhu was selling the "Living Buddha" title.
According to Zhou, the rumors were spread by separatists in a ploy to discredit the Chinese government's reincarnation system.
"Separatists hate the initiators of the system, including Zhu," wrote Zhou.
The Chinese government was lax in supervising Living Buddhas before. It was only during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) when Tibetan Buddhist temples were demolished and Living Buddhas criticized, said Wang Xiaobin, a scholar from China Tibetology Research Center.
The government attempted to reform its policies on Living Buddhas in the late 1970s. "But the policy went to another extreme. The government was hands-off on the reincarnation of tulkus," Wang said in an interview with the Global Times.
Due to the minimal intervention, new Living Buddhas were regularly affirmed by domestic Living Buddhas.
"Many of the Living Buddhas verified by the Dalai Lama and Dharamsala-based 'Tibetan government-in-exile' have become the backbone of ethnic separatists," Zhou said.
The Chinese government's lax supervision helped the Dalai Lama interfere in domestic, religious and ethnic issues in the region.