May 20, 2025: 108 Peace Institute, in collaboration with Raden Wijaya State Buddhist College, Indonesia, inaugurated a virtual lecture session on Tibetan Buddhism and its Rich Tradition of Reincarnation on 20th May, featuring Venerable Geshe Lhakdor, a distinguished Tibetan Buddhist Scholar and Director of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives.
The Founder and President of 108 Peace Institute, Dr. Lobsang Sangay, delivered opening remarks, appreciating the college’s sincere collaboration in hosting the event, and expressed his hope for the continuation of the joint effort to advance global peace and stability. An opening speech was also delivered by the Chairman of Raden Wijaya State Buddhist College, Dr. Sulaiman, who shared the college’s strong commitment to shaping a new generation of leaders with compassion and wisdom.
In his inaugural lecture, Venerable Geshe Lhakdor strongly emphasized the importance of reflecting on the teachings of Buddha and practicing them more than ever during this era of conflict and war to alleviate suffering. He reminded that in 100 years, the 8 billion population of this world, without the need for expensive missiles to cut their life short, will die on their own, counting from today, as death is the suffering that humans go through after rebirth. Therefore, despite this reality staring us in the face, Geshe la asked whether we should continue killing each other or live in peace for the rest of our lives. Notifying that misused human intelligence is the cause of our suffering, he underscored the need for value-based education to direct human intelligence for the benefit of all sentient beings, not for destruction.
While extensively exploring Tibetan Buddhism and its Reincarnation Tradition, Venerable Lhakdor mentioned the 17 most influential Great Indian masters of Nalanda and His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama’s devotion expressed to these masters in a specially commissioned picture with his commentaries. He informed that the Nalanda lineage of Tibetan Buddhism had flourished so widely in Tibet that it had over 6000 monasteries and temples before China annexed Tibet in 1959. The Gelug School of Tibetan Buddhist monasteries alone had more than 7700 monks in Drepung, 5500 in Sera, and 4400 in Gaden. After coming into exile, all these learning centres were re-established in Southern India, with each of them hosting over 3000 monks. Similarly, other sects of Tibetan Buddhism were rebuilt and retained a substantial number of monks. He asserted that the Buddhist teaching in these learning centres is based on logic and reasoning propounded by Nalanda University. Presenting the mass collection of Buddhist manuscripts existing in the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, he informed that the Library has preserved 108 Volumes of Buddhist texts, the oldest dating back to the 12th century, that are faithfully translated from Sanskrit to Tibetan. These manuscripts were brought from Tibet after China’s annexation and continue to serve as a rich resource for scholars and researchers in exile.
In addition, the lecture session delved broadly into the reincarnation tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, where Geshe Lhakdor deconstructed the esoteric concept by clarifying the distinction between rebirth and reincarnation. He said, “While both concepts involve the idea of a new life after death, rebirth focuses more on the circumstances and consequences of one’s actions, while reincarnation emphasizes the mind’s journey and growth.”
He further describes that our mind will not disappear into nothingness after death, but it will continue to travel from one life to another. Due to this phenomenon, the venerable familiarises the audience with the truth that whether one likes it or not, he/she is reborn into this samsara (cycle of rebirth) as a result of his/her negative emotions and karma. However, he clarifies that reincarnation is different from ordinary rebirth, in which an individual who has achieved a high level of mental purity can choose to be reborn into the samsara to continue their spiritual work of liberating all sentient beings from suffering. Giving an example of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Geshe Lhakdor said that because of His Holiness’s profound spiritual realization, he can reincarnate at his own will, not by external force, emphasizing that reincarnation is a personal choice, which cannot be dictated by external influence.
“Unfortunately, this very tradition of reincarnation, which has been sacredly practiced for centuries in Tibetan Buddhism, is politicised by an atheist Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for their political authority and control over Tibet”, said the Venerable Lhakdor with utter disapproval. He adds that, CCP, in its process of sinicizing Tibetan Buddhism and reincarnation, had excluded the Dalai Lama’s name from the list of spiritual leaders the CCP would recognize, citing that he is a revolutionary. But due to the significant influence of His Holiness in the Buddhist countries and among Buddhist followers, the CCP went against its word and started interfering in the recognition of the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation for geopolitical advantage. He labelled their act ludicrous, sharing a popular humorous statement of His Holiness to his then Chinese counterpart in finding Mao Zedong’s reincarnation first, and then his.
Drawing attention to the 11th Panchen Lama’s abduction by the CCP for their political gain after he was endorsed by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of the 10th Panchen Lama, the Venerable warned that Beijing will follow the same strategy with the next Dalai Lama. However, he presented that the Dalai Lama in his recently published book called “Voice for the Voiceless” clearly stated that for the first time that his successor will be born in the “free world”—outside of China. He found this statement a bold move from His Holiness, ensuring his successor is beyond China’s control.
In narrating the relationship between Tibetan Buddhism and Indonesia, he reminded it dating back to Atisha Dipamkara’s time when the great Indian master sailed across oceans from India to Indonesia (Swornadvipa) to receive teachings at the feet of Lama Serlingpa (Dharma Kirti) for 12 long years on Bodhicitta, the heart practice in Mahayana Buddhism. After receiving teachings, Atisha then came back to India and went to Tibet, where he spent 13-17 years of his life. Highlighting the contribution of Dharma Kirti in Atisha’s realization of Bodhicitta, Geshe Lhakdor emphasized on revival of Dharma Kirti’s profound teaching and suggested doing more research on the historic religious journey between the two great masters.
The deeply insightful lecture session was enriched with questions on karmic rebirth, the intermediate state (Bardo), Tantrayana practice for liberation, and the significance of reincarnation in Buddhism. The Venerable addressed all the questions with his profound knowledge and wisdom.
The event saw more than 70 participants from the Religion Department of Raden Wijaya State Buddhist College, exploring the concept of reincarnation tradition in Tibetan Buddhism.
The lecture session was concluded with Geshe Lhakdor stressing the promotion of secular ethics, embracing the concept of universal brotherhood, and developing warm-heartedness, compassion, and love for others, to bring peace and harmony in the world.