Reencarnar no ocidente: Tulkus e a manobra de sucessão Tibetana para defender o Budismo do genocídio religioso chinês

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the strategic maneuver of the Tibetan leadership in exile to ensure the continuity of its spiritual lineages against attempts by the People's Republic of China to appropriate and control Tibetan Buddhism. The central problem involves analyzing how the succession system by reincarnation (tulkus) has progressively shifted to the West as a tool for geopolitical survival and cultural resistance following the 1950 invasion and the 14th Dalai Lama's 1959 exile. The research is grounded in the concepts of "combined religion and politics" (chos srid gnyis ldan) and religious transplantation theory to understand the adaptation of a thousand-year-old tradition to a globalized context. Methodologically, the work analyzes doctrinal adaptation resources, the political instrumentalization of succession – exemplified by the 1995 kidnapping of the 11th Panchen Lama – and the legitimacy of Western tulkus through a case study of the Brazilian Lama Michel. Results indicate that the recognition of spiritual leaders in the Americas and Europe configures a strategy of "strategic hybridization" and deterritorialization of legitimacy, transforming the dogma of reincarnation into the final line of defense for Tibetan autonomy. The study concludes that the internationalization of the tulku system acts as an institutional "life insurance," decoupling lineage preservation from Chinese territorial control and ensuring the perpetuation of leadership in "free territory"