As you know, my last post was about reincarnation. Ironically,I just received an article from a friend about how the Chinese government has banned Buddhists in Tibet from reincarnating without permission. The article was in Newsweek.
According to a statement issued by the State Administration for Religious Affairs, the new law, which goes into effect next month, stipulates what one must do in order to reincarnate. According to the Administration, it is "an important move to institutionalize management of reincarnation."
Although the law may seem ludicrous to us in the Western world, to those Buddhists living in Tibet, it is recognized for what it is--a move by the Chinese government to crush the influence of the current Dalai Lama and to given them the authority to decide who the next Dalai Lama will be.
The current Dalai Lama, the 72 -year old exiled spiritual leader of the Tibetan Buddhists, has said that he will not reincarnate in Tibet as long as it is under Chinese control. So where will he choose to be re-born? That is a good question. Maybe you'll be alive to find out--whether in this incarnation or a new one.
It is quite remarkable that any government could imagine that they can control something as supernatural as those forces which underly reincarnation. Aside from that fact alone, belief is so fundamental to the practice of the religion that it could not be prevented, only made more secretive.
Posted by: Marvin Double | January 13, 2008 at 04:26 PM