Reincarnation Karmic Kerfuffle

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama presides over an event at the Tsuglakhang temple in Dharamshala, India, Monday. Ashwini Bhatia/The Associated Press

 During my decades of pastoral ministry I had a fair number of conversations with individuals about reincarnation. Even though the gospels, the apostle Paul, and 2,000 years of Christian history uphold a resurrection promise in Jesus Christ this didn't impede convictions that they had previous lives, nearly always more exotic upgrades from the ones they were currently living. It is more appealing to have been royalty than a stable cleaner, and I tried to be diplomatic in pointing this out. The logic also seemed to suggest that they had crummy karma if they had been so much more important in a previous life. 

I see that the Dalai Lama, now 90 years-old, is doing some succession planning and there is already tension over who will be the next incarnation. The Dalai Lama has lived in exile from Tibet for decades because of the Chinese occupation and the government bizarrely wants to control who will be his successor. Here is how the Globe and Mail describes the kerfuffle: 

A Tibetan exile group will identify the next Dalai Lama, the current holder of that office said Wednesday, as Beijing attempts to cement its control over Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism by insisting only the Chinese government can choose its future leader.

Addressing a large crowd in Dharamshala, India – home to thousands of Tibetan refugees and seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile – the Dalai Lama said a trust he established in 2015, which includes many senior Tibetan Buddhist figures, will identify his future reincarnation “in accordance with past tradition.”

“The Gaden Phodrang Trust has sole authority to recognize the future reincarnation; no one else has any such authority to interfere in this matter,” he added.

The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959, along with thousands of other refugees, as Beijing sent in large numbers of troops to complete an annexation begun eight years earlier. In the decades since, China has cracked down harshly, restricting Tibetans’ language, cultural and religious freedoms, including worship of the Dalai Lama, who Beijing regards as a “separatist,” despite his long-standing policy of accepting Chinese sovereignty over Tibet in exchange for autonomy.

The Dalai Lama turns 90 on Sunday, and in recent years the officially atheist Chinese government has asserted only it may identify his reincarnation.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said the Dalai Lama’s succession “must comply with Chinese laws and regulations as well as religious rituals and historical conventions.”

“The reincarnation of the Dalai Lama and other living Buddhas must be approved by the central government,” Ms. Mao said.

Does the Chinese regime have a Department of Reincarnation Regulation? If this is an atheist state, why do they want to control religious rituals? Of course, we know that China has regulated and at times persecuted Christians and other religious groups such as the Uyghers for decades. 

I hope the Dalai Lama has many more years in his role and we'll see what eventually unfolds