Aug.22,2018--“As a representative of religious communities, when we give teachings, we should strive to be in touch with the common people, pay attention to methods, and strive to make ourselves easily understood,” Erdeni Choskyi Gyalpo, a member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and vice-president of the Chinese Buddhist Association, emphasized during a discussion with religious leaders of Lhoka Prefecture, Tibet on August 18. The Panchen Lama has been in Lhoka to conduct surveys and hold Buddhist activities.
The 11th Panchen Lama said that from speeches given by Dawa Tsering, president of the Lhoka Prefecture Buddhist Association, and religious representatives from various monasteries in Lhoka, he understood the important role played by Tibetan Buddhism in modern society. Xi Jinping and the Party Central Committee care deeply about religious work and ethnic work and have launched a series of governmental policies in this regard. As a representative of religious communities, he said they needed to take the lead and conscientiously implement national laws, regulations, and policies.
The 11th Panchen Lama said that as religious leaders, they must first explain the Party and state’s religious policies to the masses of religious followers, doing well to publicize and implement them. Second, they must faithfully transmit the advices and difficulties of monks and religious followers to the higher authorities and connect the Party with religious followers.
He later pointed out that as representatives of religious communities, they must focus on studying and comprehending Buddhist theoretical knowledge, strengthen their own religious attainments, and lead religious followers from Buddhist canon, doctrine, and theory. He said they should learn and understand Buddhism from the three major stages, to hear, to think, and to practice, as well as from modern science and culture, politics, and law. They must also give good teachings, give good speeches to religious followers through their own comprehension and learning. They should let the general public listen to the scriptures and become kinder, more diligent, and more rational.
“As Tibetan Buddhist, I should be patriotic, love my religion, love people of all ethnicities, and strive for the stability of the nation,” the 11th Panchen Lama said. He said that during religious activities carried out in various monasteries in Lhoka Prefecture over the previous days, he has seen that religious work is being implemented well. He hopes that it will continue to be maintained and improved.
