[Rhodes22-list] Olympics - Reincarnation - Sailing

[Brad Haslett]

Just when you think there might be hope for the Chinese government,
something like this comes along.  If anyone takes me up on the offer of a
place to stay during the 2008 Olympics, remember, don't try and save souls
in Beijing. BTW, the sailing venue for the 2008 Olympics is Qingdao, about a
ten-hour train ride from Beijing.  Qingdao is a beautiful city once settled
by the Germans so the beer is really good.

Brad

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China Regulates Buddhist 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.