At a ceremony in Lhasa, capital city of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region January 16, a two-year-old boy succeeded the throne of the Sixth Raiqen living Buddha.

The Seventh Raiqen living Buddha, just over two years old, participated in the ritual of succession, initiation into the monkhood, and the ceremony to give him a Buddhist name in front ofa statue of Sakyamuni, known as the founder of Buddhism, inside the Johkang Temple in Lhasa.

Qoipei, vice-chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region, presented an official certificate from the regional government to approve the Seventh Raiqen living Buddha.

The ceremony was presided over by Losang Gyalcan, mayor of Lhasa, and attended by Qi Xiaofei, a representative official from the State Administration of Religious Affairs, local officials and representatives of other Lhasa temples.

The Sixth Raiqen living Buddha, Dandzim Jigme, died of illness on February 13, 1997. A group of monks from the Raiqen Monastery formed to take charge of the search for the reincarnation in accordance with religious tradition. They determined that Soinam Puncog, born in Lhari county north of Lhasa on October 13, 1997, was the reincarnated child.

The new living Buddha will participate in a grand ceremony to mark his ascension to the throne and the beginning of his religious life.

In addition to the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama, the Raiqen living Buddha is one of the highest-ranking positions in Tibetan Buddhism. The tradition of patriotism and the spirit to preserve the unity of the Chinese nation have long been advocated by Raiqenliving Buddhas. (Xinhua-PD)