Mianzi: The Rise And Fall Of The Dalai Lama

Mianzi, for one, is one’s face or reputation. As it is the motivational force for everything in China, one won’t blend into Chinese society well if they don’t understand mianzi. People try really hard to protect their own face, and it would be immoral to take another person’s face through tactics of humiliation (In comparison to western culture, which is based on individualism and guilt-based structure, Asian cultures are more based on collectivism and shame-based structure). One can lose mianzi in Chinese society, for example, by participating in unacceptable behavior, such as committing crime, failing to marry when those close to them have done so, or getting yelled by a superior (like a boss), in front of other people (like coworkers). Numbers,

Usually, the succeeding Dalai Lama would depend on the circumstances of the current Dalai Lama’s passing, as well as up to the people of Tibet, and for the Dalai Lama to make quick assumptions of no longer continuing on the legacy of the Dalai Lama role was not too believable and rather a political trick to gather empathy. Though the Dalai Lama’s role does not include political responsibilities, he main focus is to unify the Tibetan community. To this end, the Dalai Lama’s hope is to have an elected leader of the Tibetan community that is outside of China’s control. Nevertheless, China has continuously insisted that they will choose the next Dalai Lama. As the Dalai Lama is against this proposition, it is also the reason why the Dalai Lama doesn’t want to enter reincarnation in order to pass on the role. He insists that eventually the Dalai Lama institution will cease to exist one day, as they are man-made institutions. He, furthermore, thinks that the centuries-old tradition should best be stopped at the time of a popular Dalai Lama, as there is no guarantee who the next Dalai Lama is. Perhaps even, the next Dalai Lama may act foolish and disgrace themselves. Though according to tradition, the Panchen Lama (or Tibetan Buddhism’s second largest figure) is meant to choose the next Dalai Lama, the young boy chosen to be the Panchen Lama by the Dalai Lama in 1995 was repudiated by China and subsequently chose a candidate themselves. This obviously would stir up controversy within the Tibetan community if the next Dalai Lama were to be picked. This is the reason why ending the cycle and not letting China control any aspects of their culture would be the best viable option, which consequently, makes China