Gedhun Choekyi Nyima

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One of the few known photos of the 11th Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima

Gedhun Choekyi Nyima (Tibetan: དགེ་འདུན་ཆོས་ཀྱི་ཉི་མ་; Wylie: Dge-'dun Chos-kyi Nyi-ma; b. April 25, 1989) is, according to the Government of Tibet in Exile, the eleventh reincarnation of the Panchen Lama. He was born in Lhari County, Tibet and was named by the current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, on May 14, 1995. According to the government of Tibet Autonomous Region, Gyancain Norbu (Erdini Qoigyijabu) is the 11th Panchen Lama.

Following the unexpected death of the 10th Panchen Lama in 1989, the search for his reincarnation quickly became mired in political controversy. Chadrel Rinpoche, the head of the search committee, was able to secretly communicate with the Dalai Lama. However, after the Dalai Lama announced Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the new Panchen Lama, Chinese authorities arrested Chadrel Rinpoche, who was replaced with Sengchen Lobsang Gyaltsen. Sengchen had been a political opponent of the previous Panchen Lama, as had the Dalai Lama himself. The new search committee decided to ignore the Dalai Lama's announcement and choose the Panchen Lama from a list of finalists, which did not include Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, by drawing lots from the Golden Urn. Gyancain Norbu was announced as the search committee's choice on November 11, 1995.

[edit] Imprisonment

The whereabouts of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima are unknown. The Government of Tibet in Exile claims that he and his family continue to be political prisoners, and has termed him the "youngest political prisoner in the world". The Chinese government claims that he is attending school and leading a normal life somewhere in China, and that his whereabouts are kept undisclosed to protect him. ^[1]

In December, 2005 in an interview with Xinhua, the Chinese news agency, the Government's Panchen Lama, Gyancain Norbu, then 16, praised the religious freedom people in China enjoyed ^[2]. Meanwhile, the location of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his parents remain unknown, although in April 2006 Reuters reported China's denial that he is a political prisoner.^[3]