Panchen Lama Discovered

In bleak, remote northwestern China a button-eyed boy named Tuteng Tueh-chi was solemnly examined by Chinese officials from Chungking. They investigated tales of signs and portents which had supposedly attended his birth three years ago. Finally they were satisfied that he was indeed the reincarnation of a round-bellied little man who had died shortly before the youngster was born. And last week they told the world that the little boy is the Panchen or Tashi Lama, Buddha of Boundless Light and spiritual ruler of 10,000,000 rancid Tibetans and Mongolians.

Not since 1924 has Tibet seen a Panchen Lama in the flesh. In that year the late Dalai Lama, secular ruler of the land, seized the spiritual power as well, drove the Panchen Lama into exile where he died in 1938. When this usurper died seven years ago, he was succeeded by a Mongolian shepherd's son. The new Dalai Lama is now being educated -- as the new Panchen Lama will be -- amid the spinning prayer wheels and chanting monks of a Tibetan monastery. The two lucky youths can look forward to a soft life if they are lucky enough to survive the regency and reach their majority. Earlier Lamas have often died mysteriously before they could really begin to rule.

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