Updated: October 31, 2026
The Buddhist Association of China (BAC), a supposedly non-political organization, is becoming a key instrument in the Chinese Communist Party’s strategy to assimilate and transform Tibetan Buddhism, particularly in relation to the search for and recognition of reincarnate lamas. This process, which is intended to break down Tibetan Buddhism’s unique characteristics and to change it into a tool of the Chinese state, is known as Sinification.
Since President Xi Jinping’s announcement of his intent to Sinify the religions of the PRC in 2012, the BAC has been mandated as the tool to implement campaigns that will contribute to its fruition, particularly in connection with Tibetan Buddhism. Accordingly, the BAC has been strengthening its institutional foundation in recent years, which includes five-year plans and shaping monastic training to meet political goals.
When the BAC was founded in 1953, its political agenda was not highlighted. The draft charter of the association discussed in its first meeting in May-June 1953 outlined its purpose:
To unite Buddhists throughout the country and, under the leadership of the people’s government, to participate in the movement for the protection of the motherland and the defense of world peace; to assist the people’s government in carrying out the policy of freedom of religion and belief, and to contact Buddhists in all parts of the country to carry forward the fine traditions of Buddhism.
However, the charter was amended in subsequent years with the political agenda becoming more prominent. In 2020 it was amended to include “Sinification of Buddhism in China” as one of its objectives, to read, “support the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the socialist system, study and implement Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, adhere to the direction of the Sinification of Buddhism in China.”
Today, the BAC has adopted an overwhelming political tone and language and exhibits no qualms in pushing forward the CCP’s political agenda.
The Chinese leadership’s objective of Sinification of Tibetan Buddhism was most recently reiterated during the Two Sessions held in March 2024, when Wang Huning, head of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said that they “carried out 10 research and inspections in Tibet, Xinjiang, and Tibet-related counties in Sichuan Province on promoting the Sinification of Tibetan Buddhism.”
