After a 16-year suspension, examinations for the top academic degree in the Gelupa sect of Tibetan Buddhism resumed Thursday. Six senior monks sat for the oral exam at Lhasa's Jokhang Temple, and will undergo the dissertation portion of the test at the Tibetan New Year.

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

The test has been suspended for 16 years, since a separatist group headed by the Dalai Lama took advantage of the event in 1988 to start a riot.

Six highly respected monks from temples like Daipung, Sera and Gandan passed the test after over an hour of debates. Their average age was 70.

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 is also in the interest of the religious community and all Buddhists," 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 studied Tibetan Buddhism for many years. The Lha Ram Pa Gexe is the highest of four degrees.

Seventeen revered monks obtained the title in the 1986 and 1987 exams.
 
(Xinhua News Agency July 29, 2004)