Tibetan living Buddhas will have to apply for reincarnation to the Chinese Government.

BEIJING: From next month, Tibetan living Buddhas will have to apply forreincarnation to the Chinese Government.

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 is officially atheist and maintains strict controls over Tibetan Buddhism and all other religions.

Reincarnation Red Tape

Just how are they going to frame an application?

This is another attempt to marginalise the Tibetans. What happens when someone applies and then is rejected? No more Living Buddha's?

Does this signal the beginning of the end for Buddhism?


[edit on 3-8-2007 by Thurisaz]

There will be few people who actually register, I actually would'nt be surprised if
no one did, but even than, the only people that will get a 'reincarnation license' will
be the brainwashed party loyalists who do whatever the CPC says.

The current Dalai Lama has said it many times, he will not be reincarnated in PRChina.


I don't think this marks an end to Buddhism, considering it's a diverse religion,
similar to how Christianity has split, but into lesser sects, and it's practiced in
many places not just in Asia, but in Europe and the America's as well.
What this does mark though is yet another oppression of religion by the CPC.

It's very sad that no one seems to want to do anything to stop this..

Thank You for giving me a most needed laugh on my way between jobs. I will be giggling all day.

This is of course a serious matter. Cough.
How can I express, my urgent feelings of utter contempt towards a goverment that continuously features a complete lack of humility and respect for the individual?
Can I in a civil manner convey my thoughts of how this totalitarian regime, for decades, with out contest, has suppressed, brain washed and terrorized their own people?

No, so I will refrain from making a comment. Ups guess I did. :shk:

WIS

The history of the Tibetan peoples' struggle against the Chinese Govt Communism is shameful. It is one thing to take the land but to destroy the Buddhist faith is going way too far.

Someone suggested to me a while ago that they believed China was the anti christ. I think the anti christ concept is subjective to whatever you feel Christ is/was. I do feel though, preventing/controlling another's faith is anti-spiritual/anti-consciousness.

Just what does China hope to achieve? A country full of working robots controlled by the regime? Don't think, don't buck the system, do not believe in anything except what the system prescribes.

When the Dalai Lama came to Australia recently, the Chinese Govt tried to pressure the Australian Govt not to receive him at all.

It is very frightening. This is absolute power corrupting absolutely.

And I also feel that the economic power of China is also very frightening.




[edit on 5-8-2007 by Thurisaz]

alright.. so the chinese government is full of control-freak pricks... so what? they want to assert as much control as they can over everything that they can. this has been the reality for quite a while... nothing is new here.

I think the PRC gov't. will discover that the more they attempt to control it, the less they actually do.

Reincarnation licence? Too funny.

Originally posted by seagull
Reincarnation licence? Too funny.

Yes whats next? Breathing License?

What the hell? :shk: What next, Lord? What next?

Why only Buddhas? considering the general consensus is anyone whos not reached Buddhahood will be reincarnated, should everyone regardless of faith therefor be required to register.

Its obviously the Chinese Governments attempt to control Buddhism in Tibet by recognizing only who they see fit to be the next Buddhist leaders in the region, which wont work as is already proven with the Dalai Lama pretty much still being the unofficial leader of Tibet.

Originally posted by Edn
Why only Buddhas? considering the general consensus is anyone who's not reached Buddhahood will be reincarnated, should everyone regardless of faith therefor be required to register.

Correct.
And considering that I have not yet reached Buddhahood would I then as a westerner be eligible to apply?
Couldn't we all apply?
The Chinese government is, opposed to Buddhist tradition, implying that the Buddha will reincarnate from a random "body".
As such we should all rightfully apply, that would give work to some thousands of Chinese bureaucrats?

The only eligible applicant would be His Holiness the Dalai Lama, correct?

Let us all apply, the sooner the better:shk:

WIS

Does this signal the beginning of the end for Buddhism?

No of course not. It signals a roadblock in the path of Tibetan Buddhist culture.

Buddhahood is a state of existence which can be attained by any living being if you read the Lotus Sutra dictated from Shakyamuni Buddha 2,500 years ago.

The Chinese government can no more control this than it can prevent the sun from shining. These are just passing clouds.

In fact the Dalai Lama is a Bohisattva which is a step below Buddhahood. The is the spiritual leader of Tibet's people and Tibet's culture. The current 14th Dalai Lama has already indicated his successor will not be born under Chinese control.

It is sure nice that the Chinese Government has given official legal recognition to reincarnation and Buddhahood, even if it was for all the wrong reasons ha ha...

The Chinese Government has already meddled with the appointment of their choice of the next highest ranking Tibetan Bodhisattva, the Panchen Lama.

Correct.
And considering that I have not yet reached Buddhahood would I then as a westerner be eligible to apply?
Couldn't we all apply?
The Chinese government is, opposed to Buddhist tradition, implying that the Buddha will reincarnate from a random "body".
As such we should all rightfully apply, that would give work to some thousands of Chinese bureaucrats?

In Tibetan tradition a Lama (as a Bodhisattva) will choose their next birth in the spiritual realm for the most optimum of conditions.

It is not just the most well known Tibetan Lama who has reincarnated many times. The Gelugspa or Yellow Hat sect in particular has recognised many children born in the West as reincarnated lamas.

It is not something one applies to be. There are several signs which indicate a candidate and following the death of a Lama there is a kind of search for those signs and the candidate.

That is the business of the Tibetan's themselves since it is their culture. It is not the sort of thing which one makes an application for.

Reincarnated Bodhisattvas are found, not appointed.

OMG



utter nonsense

besides, i have it on excellent authority that ALL souls' transmigration is on a PURELY free-will basis...

just because we refuse to acknowledge free-will and integrity related to keeping personal covenants(contracts) down here in material-ville...doesn't mean it IS NOT SO. and IT IS.

they can't fool me - i am a bodhi! and an american - all i have to apply for is a passport

Queen Annie don't get your knickers in a twist.

People were asking about Tibetan beliefs and Tibetan culture.

It's not your business or mine to judge them.



As someone else pointed out there are many sects and branches of Buddhism. Tibetan Mahayana school is only one.

If you bother to read the Lotus Sutra, then Shakyamuni said pretty much what you've just said, but the Tibetans are as entitled to their beliefs as Christians to theirs. As far as cultures go, I think the Tibetan culture is pretty cool.

Not many people realise that the historical Buddha himself (Shakyamuni or Gautama) denounced most of the Buddhist scriptures as wrong.

As with Jesus, Shakyamuni did not himself write the sutras. These were written by disciples.

Only the Lotus sutra was deliberately dictated by Shakyamuni and in that sutra he set the record straight and himself denounced the other teachings in the other sutras.






[edit on 21-8-2007 by sy.gunson]

Incidentally I suggest anyone interested reads various biographies of the current Dalai Lama how as a little boy he was tested by examiners after a nationwide search.

The examiners tried to trick him with a variety of similar objects, but each time he chose only the object owned by the 13th Dalai Lama. He was then able to recount matters about those objects which he had no other way of knowing.

There is plenty of proof for re-incarnation.

I take it you have never read the Bloxham tapes and how the hypnotic regression of one person to a past life in Yorkshire led to the discovery of a long sealed and forgotten crypt under the cathedral in York where jews were hidden from the 16th century pogroms.

Maybe you haven't read of the indisputable stories of children who were born able to remember lives with other families in other towns and were able to re-visit loved ones from past lives ?

Is that what you call rubbish ?

The early Gnostic church which was outlawed by the Council of Nycea in 325 AD believed in reincarnation which was a part of original Christian beliefs before the teachings of Jesus were censored and edited out of all recognition by the church.

Druze Christians in Lebanon still believe in reincarnation and hold to the Gnostic teachings of Christ.

It's modern day Christians who persecute the teachings of Christ.

Who says my knickers are in a twist? I was totally amused; like i said, i understand the true extent of free will even as it applies to transmigration.

NO religious belief or so-called rulings can change the way it really is. Spirit rules matter. Period. Not the other way around. One day most if not all people will understand this. Until then, religion will remain something to debate and bicker over. But none of it matters, in the bigger picture.

Spirit rules matter.

Even those that deny that there is such a thing as spirit unknowingly comply with that inalterable principle.

Tibetans certainly believe in the spirit.

They certainly believe that.

Well, that is the basis for all religions and religious philosophies, is it not?

the discrepancies enter in regarding the intangible logistics and mechanics of matter vs. spirit (seen vs. unseen).

And back to the OP, the communist government of China is attempting to impose it's own layer of bureaucracy over Tibet's cultural religious practices and beliefs.

...and the response is

No it does not speel the end for Buddhism nor that Mayhaya tantric practice of buddhism in Tibet.

I take your point. My belief is that religion and spirituality are two different things. I'm sure at some level we do agree.

This thread has me giggling. Who's going to sacrifice the Chinese bureaucrats that will wait in the afterlife to block the reincarnation efforts of the living Buddhas?

This just shows me that the Chinese government is insane. Surely they can't really believe that they could stop reincarnation with a piece of paper, even if it was a real event and not just a belief?