The Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) on Thursday accused the Chinese Communist Party of trying to control Tibetan Buddhism by forcing Tibetan Buddhist monks to undergo trainings to increase knowledge of law amongst local Tibetans.

A CTA official said the agenda is being aggressively pushed forward by the local United Work Front Department and the Ethnic and Religious department.

“According to London-based advocacy group Free Tibet, the 8-day training program focusing on the key messages from China’s 19^th National Congress and Communist Party’s policies was imposed on 42 religious figures from Buddhist monasteries across Chamdo in Tibet in November this year,” he said.

These participants are now liable to ensure that the messages are relayed to the monasteries and fellow monks.

This move appears to be a part of the larger scheme of Chinese Communist Party to control Tibetan Buddhism, he added.

The official said China strictures constitute direct interference in the administration of the Tibetan Buddhism which made it compulsory for all reincarnated lamas to register themselves.

“It now appears that the lamas or tulkus who are going to pass away have to first notify the Chinese Communist Party about their intention to pass away and then seek permission to be reborn as a “tulku” in the next birth,” former director of Tibet Policy Institute Thubten Samphel said.

Samphel said the patriotic education and reduction of the Buddhist monks are ongoing campaigns imposed by the Chinese Communist Party since the occupation of Tibet and have been further intensified in the recent times.

There has been systemic repression of Tibetan Buddhism and moves to control the monasteries.

The administration of most of the major monasteries in Tibet have been taken over by Communist government controlled Democratic Management Committees (DMCs) which is comprised of ‘patriotic’ monks and nuns, party cadres and ‘trusted’ government officials.

He said the Chinese Communist Party’s repressive policies specially targeting the Tibetan Buddhist Institutes have forced them to stand up against such policies which in turn is another pretense to view these Buddhist centres as nuclei of resistance against China.

“The irony is that China wants to use the same Tibetan Buddhism, which it has been trying to suppress and control, to promote its massive Belt and Road Initiative across the world.

In view of which these so-called legal trainings appears to be just another move to control Tibetan Buddhism, he added.