Thursday, March 12, 2015

Is it time for the Dalai Lama to achieve nirvana?

Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, has suggested that he might not trouble to be reincarnated at the end of his current life — and the Chinese are pissed.  They say it's blasphemous, no less!

Rarely do I find an article in the New York Times laugh-out-loud funny, but this one really tickled my funny bone.  Not only are the Chinese Communists insisting that the Dalai Lama be reincarnated, they are claiming the right to decide into whose body he reincarnates.  Coming from devout atheists, it's an idea silly enough to be worthy of certain House Republicans.

Yes, the Chinese think they'll have an easier time with the Tibetans if they can control Tibet's spiritual leader, but anybody familiar with their hand selected Panchen Lama's popularity knows they're wasting their time.

If I remember correctly from my anthropology days, Living Buddhas pass through a limited number of reincarnations before they retire into nirvana.  How many were predicted for the Dalai Lama?  I can't remember, but it just might have been fourteen.  Anyway, the Chinese probably would be better off with no Dalai Lama than with another Tibetan Buddhist apparatchik.  Xi should seriously consider just letting Tenzin Gyatso become one with the universe.

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