Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Reincarnation to be Administered by Government

You know things will get yukky when my two most despised concepts, religion and government, get entangled.

Apparently, all reincarnated Buddhas living in Tibet must now apply to the Chinese government for reincarnation status.

BEIJING (AFP) - Tibetan living Buddhas are no longer allowed to be reincarnated without permission from the atheist Chinese government, state media reported Friday.

The new rules are "an important move to institutionalise the management of reincarnation of living Buddhas," the Xinhua news agency said.

According to the regulations, which take effect on September 1, all reincarnation applications must be submitted to religious affairs officials for approval, Xinhua said.

China is ruled by the Communist Party, which, despite being officially atheist, maintains strict controls over Tibetan Buddhism and all other religions.

Living Buddhas are an important element in Tibetan Buddhism, forming a clergy of influential religious figures who are believed to be continuously reincarnated to take up their positions anew.

Often there is more than one candidate competing to be recognised as the actual reincarnation, and the authority to decide who is the true claimant carries significant power.

This is especially true in the case of the Panchen Lama, the second-most influential figure in Tibetan Buddhism behind the Dalai Lama.

Chinese authorities detained the Dalai Lama's choice as the Panchen Lama in 1995 when the boy was six years old, and he has not been seen in public since.

The Chinese government's choice as the Panchen Lama has meanwhile been paraded around the country in recent years to promote China's rule over his homeland.


There is something incredibly unsettling about an imaginary entity claiming dominion over an imaginary process.

Similar things are occuring here in the US as well.

8 comments:

Rose said...

Its easy to say, what does it matter? There's no afterlife anyway!

Not all Buddhists even believe in reincarnation. From what I've read, some do and some don't.

So, then for the Buddhist to battle this, he/she can just stop believing in reincarnation! Its that simple. LOL

Aaron Kinney said...

And just what kind of loyalty oath is a compulsory one anyway?

Anonymous said...

It almost seems like a joke - applying for a government license so you can get "reincarnated." As much as I dislike religion, I can't help but feel sorry for the Buddhists who are having their lives controlled by government.

Aaron Kinney said...

Lily,

I know what you mean. Sometimes its hard to tell which evil is worse: religion or government.

They both totally suck in my opinion.

James Pyrich said...

As I've commented elsewhere, I'm waiting for the US Congress to ban transubstantiation. Millions of Catholics will have to settle with bad crackers and wine instead of the Body and Blood of Our Lord and Savior Jesus H. Christ.

Anonymous said...

"As I've commented elsewhere, I'm waiting for the US Congress to ban transubstantiation. Millions of Catholics will have to settle with bad crackers and wine instead of the Body and Blood of Our Lord and Savior Jesus H. Christ."

Hmmmm... and now the two million dollar question: what DOES the "H" in Jesus H. Christ stand for?

"Hellfire"?
"Haliburton"?
"Holyfuck"?

The world may never know.

-olly

Anonymous said...

Hi Aaron,
What article refers to similar things occuring here in the U.S.? The link appears to be broken - thank you.
- Cynthia Wilson
www.infinitesouls.com
email: admin@infinitesouls.com

Aaron Kinney said...

Oh, it was some article that referred to some religious law they passed in TX. Bummer that the link is gone, I guess they didnt keep the article up long. I forget exactly what the law was regarding but it had to do with state and religous entanglements of some kind that was, of course, pissing off the entire community.