Tibetan Buddhism resumes top-degree academic exams for Lamas

The first part of the test for Lha Ram Pa Gexe, the highest academic degree for the Gelugba faction of Tibetan Buddhism, was held Wednesday at the Jokhan Temple of Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet autonomous region.

The test has been suspended for a period of 16 years after a separatist group headed by Dalai Lama took advantage of this religious event in 1988 to start a riot.

Six dignitary monks with an average age of 70 from temples like Daipung, Sera and Gandan passed the test after over an hour of debates.

They will be granted the top degree (Gexe) if they pass the dissertation, a formal final test, at a prayer meeting in celebration of the next Tibetan New Year. A panel of 16 senior

Lamas and Tibetan Buddhism experts has been formed to preside over the two tests.

"The resumption of this annual event will encourage Buddhist monks to enhance their religious knowledge and carry on Buddhist traditions. It's also in the interests of the religious circles and Buddhism believers," said Tubdain, head of the Ethnic Affairs Commission of the Tibet Autonomous Region.

The Gexe test system is a way to acknowledge the academic degrees of the Lamas who have been engaged in studies of Tibetan Buddhism for many years. Among all the four rankings of the Gexe degrees, the Lha Ram Pa Gexe is the highest one.

Some 17 dignitaries obtained the highest title in the tests of 1986 and 1987.