6th Living Buddha Enthroned

The sixth Living Buddha Dezhub is enthroned in China's Tibet Autonomous Region yesterday. The ceremony took place at Zagor Monastery in Shannan Prefecture, about a month after he was selected to be the reincarnation of the fifth Living Buddha Dezhub who died in 2000.

At the inaugural ceremony that began at 9:30 a.m., Losang Jigme, Tibet's top official in charge of religious affairs, read out the regional government's approval of the enthronement.

As hundreds of monks chanted sutra to pray for peace and happiness, the crimson-robed Living Buddha paid his respects to Buddha statues at the monastery before he was seated on the throne.

The solemn-looking 5-year-old sat straight when he was adorned with a yellow cassock and yellow hat, the symbols of the Gelugpa school, also known as the Yellow Sect, one of the four streams of Tibetan Buddhism.

His smile, however, betrayed his age from time to time.

"His enthronement is a glorious day for the monastery, as well as for all Buddhist monks and the faithful," said Losang Gyaltsen, a monk at Zagor Monastery in Shannan.

The young Living Buddha, whose secular name is Losang Doje, was born in Shannan on Nov. 30, 2005.

He was chosen as a candidates after years of searching by senior monks according to religious practice and traditions. He was selected as the reincarnation and was tonsured by Bainqen Erdini Qoigyijabu, the 11th Panchen Lama, in Lhasa on July 4.

The Panchen Lama also gave him the religious name Dezhub Jamyang Sherab Palden.