Topic: Regulating Reincarnation

[nichi]

China Regulates Reincarnation

By Matthew Philips
Newsweek
Aug. 20-27, 2007 issue -

In one of history's more absurd acts of totalitarianism, China has banned Buddhist monks in Tibet from reincarnating without government permission. According to a statement issued by the State Administration for Religious Affairs, the law, which goes into effect next month and strictly stipulates the procedures by which one is to reincarnate, is "an important move to institutionalize management of reincarnation." But beyond the irony lies China's true motive: to cut off the influence of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual and political leader, and to quell the region's Buddhist religious establishment more than 50 years after China invaded the small Himalayan country. By barring any Buddhist monk living outside China from seeking reincarnation, the law effectively gives Chinese authorities the power to choose the next Dalai Lama, whose soul, by tradition, is reborn as a new human to continue the work of relieving suffering.

At 72, the Dalai Lama, who has lived in India since 1959, is beginning to plan his succession, saying that he refuses to be reborn in Tibet so long as it's under Chinese control. Assuming he's able to master the feat of controlling his rebirth, as Dalai Lamas supposedly have for the last 600 years, the situation is shaping up in which there could be two Dalai Lamas: one picked by the Chinese government, the other by Buddhist monks. "It will be a very hot issue," says Paul Harrison, a Buddhism scholar at Stanford. "The Dalai Lama has been the prime symbol of unity and national identity in Tibet, and so it's quite likely the battle for his incarnation will be a lot more important than the others."

So where in the world will the next Dalai Lama be born? Harrison and other Buddhism scholars agree that it will likely be from within the 130,000 Tibetan exiles spread throughout India, Europe and North America. With an estimated 8,000 Tibetans living in the United States, could the next Dalai Lama be American-born? "You'll have to ask him," says Harrison. If so, he'll likely be welcomed into a culture that has increasingly embraced reincarnation over the years. According to a 2005 Gallup poll, 20 percent of all U.S. adults believe in reincarnation. Recent surveys by the Barna Group, a Christian research nonprofit, have found that a quarter of U.S. Christians, including 10 percent of all born-again Christians, embrace it as their favored end-of-life view. A non-Tibetan Dalai Lama, experts say, is probably out of the question.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20227400/site/newsweek

[daphne]

".. to institutionalize management of reincarnation."

Gosh !! 

[erik]

Way to go, beloved Chinese comrades!
Marx, Lenin and Stalin are in awe of your stern commitment to make all people under your rule happy!

[Zamurito]

Way to go, beloved Chinese comrades!
Marx, Lenin and Stalin are in awe of your stern commitment to make all people under your rule happy!

Wait!  Don't forget our beloved President Bush!

Oh wait, I forget...you're not 'ruled' by him....

<<<Cackles>>>

z

[erik]

Wait!  Don't forget our beloved President Bush!

Oh wait, I forget...you're not 'ruled' by him....

<<<Cackles>>>

z

Nah, I live in a different world

[nichi]

Way to go, beloved Chinese comrades!
Marx, Lenin and Stalin are in awe of your stern commitment to make all people under your rule happy!

If the Tibetan monks are happy, does that mean they have been ordered into Nirvana? 

(It's such an astonishing course of events, I'm speechless about it.)

[Michael]

We watched Wheel of Time by Werner Herzog the other night.
one monk had come from mongolia. it took him 3.5 years to reach Bodh Gaya for the kalachakra ceremony, covering the entire distance with the length of his body - stretching out on the ground  as they do.

when I read about this Chinese thing, I thought of that monk, and thought - the Chinese haven't a hope in the face of that level of dedication.

btw, the dali lama was too sick to perform the kalachakra ceremony that year. 40,000 monks attended.

[erismoksha]

That's funny. China is afraid of more Lama's being born in Tibet. They can be born anywhere they want to, to whatever they wish to, regardless of the law.

China's getting desperate. They've done their best to slander Dalai Lama, because he's a 'separatist' and even claimed the Tibetans practiced human sacrifice, sacrificing people to him. Human sacrifice is against their religion.

I guess they needed a better counter for killing all the Tibetan monks, and taking down the temples with the monks in them, raping the nuns, so forth.

[Nick]

WOW! Does more need to be said? Yes, perhaps it does, is human stupidity without end? Come on now!

Wouldn't this backfire anyway. I mean what if the paper work gets mixed up and a government official prevents his own reincarnation? That would suck for him....if only control over reincarnation was so easy.


This one tops the cake. Wonder if one of the late night comedian's has joked about it.


good laugh.

[erismoksha]

Well what surprises me is China would do this for many reasons, but if they're so anti-religious, why would they be acknowleding reincarnation as valid?

WOW! Does more need to be said? Yes, perhaps it does, is human stupidity without end? Come on now!

Wouldn't this backfire anyway. I mean what if the paper work gets mixed up and a government official prevents his own reincarnation? That would suck for him....if only control over reincarnation was so easy.


This one tops the cake. Wonder if one of the late night comedian's has joked about it.


good laugh.

[kaycee]

Wow!! 

I do see a corelation between George W and China though. 

W manipulates time by extending Daylight Savings, and China manipultes it by limiting incarnations. 

Since imho there is no such thing as time - their laws don't exist either - in fact, do they?   

Luv, K