Dalai Lama Readies Tibetans for Future--With or Without Him : Buddhism: Forty years after the Communists took over, the exiled spiritual leader is unwavering in his struggle with China.

A year after winning the Nobel Peace Prize, the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan leader, is looking ahead--to changes in China, to the future of his homeland, even to life after his own death.

“In case I pass away under present circumstances, when it is necessary to choose a new Dalai Lama, then definitely it should be in a free country,” he proclaims. “My reincarnation will not appear in Chinese hands or under Chinese control.”

He smiles, savoring the realization that even his own death will someday spark one more epic battle with China, his lifetime adversary. In 1950, when the Dalai Lama was a mere adolescent of 15, China’s new Communist regime marched its troops into Lhasa, the capital, ending the de facto independence that Tibet had held since the beginning of this century.

In the four decades since, the Chinese leadership has tried in turns to cajole, educate, terrify, ignore, vilify and negotiate with the Dalai Lama. It has sought at one time or another to win over, repress, modernize or obliterate the culture of the 6 million Tibetans to whom the Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader and national symbol.

Nothing has worked. Tibet remains so unreconciled to Chinese rule that early last year, Beijing was forced to impose martial law there. It was lifted in May.

The Dalai Lama, who fled to India after an abortive Tibetan uprising in 1959, has thrived and won international renown as heir to the nonviolent traditions of Mohandas K. Gandhi, a man he considers “the consummate politician.”

At 55, sitting cross-legged and barefooted on a chair, eyes peering out from his slightly tinted glasses, the Dalai Lama looks healthy and serene enough to live a few more decades. He survived Mao Zedong, who once admonished him that “religion is poison.” The Dalai Lama is likely to outlive current Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping and perhaps Deng’s successor.

The Dalai Lama was interviewed at the Tibetan Learning Center, a modest Buddhist retreat in the hills of western New Jersey. It was the final rest stop on his recent tour of the United States, a trip in which he failed once again in his efforts, dating back more than a decade, to win an audience in Washington at the White House or State Department.

The Bush Administration, like its predecessors of the last two decades, has refused to receive the Dalai Lama, believing that to do so would offend China. The official U.S. position since 1949 has been that Tibet is part of China. China regularly warns all governments not to give the Dalai Lama any sort of reception, recognition or platform.

Although he is committed to principles of nonviolence, the Dalai Lama knows well how to throw a verbal punch. Underneath the saffron robes lies a canny leader who seems to relish political combat.

What does he think about the Bush Administration’s refusal to see him? He starts gently: What counts is not the Dalai Lama personally, he says, but whether support is given to the Tibetan people.

Then comes the haymaker:

“My immediate hope or prayer is that America should follow your predecessors’ policies based on liberty, democracy and freedom,” he declares. “The day before yesterday, I visited Philadelphia and saw Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. It was quite moving. It is a pity. You will enjoy it, and forget other people’s rights.”

One quality that contributes to the Dalai Lama’s success is a strong sense of hard-nosed realism.

“Naturally, every nation or country, when it considers Tibet and China, if it has a choice, then China is more important,” he concedes. “Unless someone really stands on moral principle and on justice.”

The only political leader he can think of today who embraces such moral principles is Czechoslovakian President Vaclav Havel. In a sense, the Dalai Lama is returning a political favor: Havel incurred China’s wrath earlier this year by welcoming the Dalai Lama to Prague.

Another personality trait is the Dalai Lama’s ability to adapt with the times. His unchanging, unyielding belief is in the need to perpetuate Tibet, and its people, religion and culture. On questions of economics and politics, he seems willing to shift with the prevailing winds.

During the early 1950s, he confesses in his just-published autobiography, “Freedom in Exile,” he was enamored of the concept of socialism.

“The more I looked at Marxism, the more I liked it,” he admits.

Nowadays, in the wake of the winds of change that have swept Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, he talks about the importance of democracy for his Tibetan government in exile, based in Dharmsala, India. A new constitution is being drafted, he says, that will provide for an elected Cabinet and will impose new curbs on the legislative authority of the Dalai Lama.

These democratic reforms would represent quite a change for the many Tibetans who have for centuries regarded the Dalai Lama as supreme religious and secular leader.

In a sense, the Dalai Lama is preparing Tibetans to be ready to seize the opportunities he believes will be created by future changes in China.

“I think more democracy, more freedom, will develop within China,” he says. “And then, naturally, the leadership may adopt a more open attitude toward Tibet.”

Previous efforts to work out some kind of deal with China have ended in failure.

In 1979, when Deng came to power, Chinese leaders began to apologize for the destruction of Tibetan temples during the Cultural Revolution, to ease their policies toward Tibet and to talk about the possibility of allowing the Dalai Lama to return from exile.

These talks broke down when the Dalai Lama called for changes in Chinese policy toward Tibet, and China insisted that the Dalai Lama return to China first.

“Once we return,” says the Dalai Lama, referring to himself, “we are in their hands. And then, immediately. . . .” He holds out an open hand and then squeezes it hard, as though he were catching and then crushing a small bird.

Three years ago, the Dalai Lama admits, he and other Tibetan activists made a conscious decision to attract new public attention to their cause. He spoke to members of Congress in Washington and to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.

The Dalai Lama maintains a willingness to reach some compromise with China that would fall short of complete independence for Tibet. Tibet could have some affiliation with China while preserving local autonomy, he suggests.

“Tibet has a legitimate right to be an independent country,” he says.

“(But) I am thinking of some compromise. At this moment, I believe my task is to save our nation, our culture. So, basically, I am not demanding complete independence from China. If there are 6 million Tibetans in a landlocked country, it will be more difficult to develop than if they are joined to a neighbor to achieve rapid development.”

At the moment, the Dalai Lama faces a new struggle with China. The Panchen Lama, Tibet’s second-highest leader, died last year. Under the traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, religious authorities choose a new Panchen Lama by carrying out a search for his reincarnation. Roughly the same method is used to select each new Dalai Lama.

Last year, however, Chinese Premier Li Peng ordered that the search for a new Panchen Lama must take place within China’s borders, rather than among Tibetan exiles in Nepal or India. Li also said the search must be conducted by a committee organized and approved by the Chinese government. In effect, he was serving notice that China wants to control the selection of new Tibetan religious leaders.

The Dalai Lama says Tibetans will carry out their own search.

“We are concerned about the Chinese politicizing the selection of the Panchen Lama,” he says. “Our concern is that the reincarnation should be a genuine one.”

He shows a willingness to accommodate the Chinese premier’s demand that the new Panchen Lama must come from inside China’s borders.

“Whether the reincarnation appears in China or Tibet or India, that doesn’t matter,” he says. “If it’s in Tibet, that would be much easier. If it were outside Tibet, the Chinese might create a problem.”

But for the next Dalai Lama, he is insistent: His own successor must come from among Tibetans in exile.

“The purpose of reincarnation is to follow the work of the previous (Dalai Lama),” he explains. “In my case, I escaped from Chinese hands with a purpose. So, if my reincarnation comes inside, in Chinese hands, it is a disgrace.”