China Bans Reincarnation Without Government Permission

[babylonsister]

:wtf:

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

China Bans Reincarnation Without Government Permission

From the wire:
Posted at 12:34 PM on August 22, 2007.


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.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. LOL as if a gov't can control anything like that

[hvn_nbr_2]

6. Hey, they successfully ordered the Y2K bug not to affect China. nt

[obama_girl]

2. gunga galunga

n/t

[mr_hat]

4. But stiffed nonetheless.

[Quantess]

16. Is that a Caddyshack reference?

I love Bill Murray's character.:rofl:

[TechBear_Seattle]

3. Political move to stamp out Tibetan Buddhism once and for all

Remember, until its conquest by China, Tibet was a theocracy where the leaders of various religious orders effectively ran the country. The Dalai Lama was the chiefest of these, making him effectively head-of-state.

Under these new laws, when the current Dalai Lama dies and (as his followers would assert) his spirit is reincarnated as the next Dalai Lama (and de facto head of the Tibetan government in exile), any entry into Chinese controlled territory will allow him to be imprisoned under the felony of having reincarnated without a license. In short, newly declared lamas would be disappeared into Chinese "re-education" camps never to be seen or heard from again.

Idiotic on the face of it, but fiendishly clever politically.

[Kajsa]

8. Of course it is.

Anyone now proclaiming to be the reincarnated will be
imprisoned or worse.

Way to control the people, Communist Chinese leaders!

btw; How does one obtain a " license" to be reincarnated?

What department would handle that?

They have figured out a way to keep the Dalai Lama out, permanently.

--and the 2008 Olympics are to be held there?!?!?

[Dangerously Amused]

5. Do they say what the penalty is for violating this law?

I mean, if they execute you... you'll just come back again anyway.

[babylonsister]

9. ...

:rofl: That amused me dangerously!

[Dangerously Amused]

13. :D

:thumbsup:

[Cha]

7. That's hilarious...Good Luck on

that, dics.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

10. I can't breathe from laughing so much!!! This literally has to be one of the funniest things I've

ever read in my life!!!!!!

[babylonsister]

11. I know! I really meant that 'wtf'! I did a double-take at that headline! nt

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

12. I can't think of this without laughing! I shared it with my kids arind they thought it

was hysterical too!

I think someone has to write a screenplay with this as the premise..

Opening scene...man hovering between life and death on his hospital bed. All of a sudden his astral-self looks down at his unconscious body, he then sees, in the distance, his beloved departed mother smiling at him in the light..her arms outstretched, beckoning him. He floats towards her. All of a sudden, the Reincarnation Police who astrally project says "Stop Chen!" Remember when you get the other side, you have to refuse to reincarnate! We'll know if you do and hunt you down, tear you away from your new
Mother's breast and throw you into prison for your whole new entire life. You're on notice!"
Chen looks at his mother and the radiant light, and then looks down at his unconscious body, he's says screw it for now, and re-enters his body.
Camera pans and on the bank of machines next to his bed, you see his vitals getting stronger....

[deacon]

14. The shouldn't be giving bush any new ideas like this - lol

[spanone]

15. best thread title of the day!!!!!!!!!!!

that's some funny shit...those damned chinese, a laugh a minute.

kinda sounds like a right wing fundie christian idea, too.