Dalai Lama Gets Mischievous

[Randy W]

in the NY Times

 

Dalai Lama Gets Mischievous

Read in Chinese | 鿴»

http://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/07/16/opinion/16KRISTOF/16KRISTOF-master675.jpg

 

He is the 14th Dalai Lama, each considered a reincarnation of the previous one, and usually after one has died a search is undertaken for an infant to become the next. But he has said that he may be the last of the line, or that the next Dalai Lama might emerge outside Tibet — or might even be a girl.

 

This talk infuriates Beijing, which is determined to choose the next Dalai Lama (to use as a tool to control Tibet). So, startlingly, the atheists in the Chinese Communist Party have been insisting that Buddhist reincarnation must continue.

“The Chinese Communist Party is pretending that they know more about the reincarnation system than the Dalai Lama,” said the Dalai Lama, laughing. “The Chinese Communists should accept the concept of rebirth. Then they should recognize the reincarnation of Chairman Mao Zedong, then Deng Xiaoping. Then they have the right to involve themselves in the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation.”

 

 

. . .

 

His biggest concern seems to be that after he dies, China will select a new pet Dalai Lama who may act as a quisling to help the Chinese control Tibet and to give legitimacy to their policies there.

“Sadly, the precedent has been set,” he said, referring to the Panchen Lama, the second most important reincarnated lama in Tibetan Buddhism. After the 10th Panchen Lama died in 1989, China kidnapped the baby chosen by Tibetans as his successor and helped anoint a different child as the 11th Panchen Lama. Nobody knows what happened to the real Panchen Lama.

 

[Randy W]

A previous topic about the Panchen Lama -

Dalai Lama concedes he may be the last

[Mick]

Awhile back I read an article describing how many young Chinese are turning to Buddhism as a guiding force in their lives. An most interesting was the fact that the article said the the most popular form of Buddhism among the young was Tibetan Buddhism. I wish I could remember where I read that article so I could post a link. I think this may be one of the articles I read:

 

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/856367.shtml

 

What will be interesting to see is how this new wave of Buddhists in China may react to the government attempting to choose the new Dalai Lama. I know when I lived in China there was a huge temple complex next to our campus that occupied most of a small mountain. It was jam packed with worshipers every day and many were in their 20s and 30s and this was back around the late 90s and early 2000s.