Snip from a Globe and Mail article quoting HH the Dalai Lama: “It is quite strange – as non-believers, totally non-believers, atheists – showing interest about reincarnation. I jokingly tell them: In order to be involved in my reincarnation, firstly, they should accept Buddhism. Or religion. Or Buddhism. Then they should recognize Chairman Mao Zedong’s reincarnation. Deng Xiaopeng’s reincarnation. Then, they have reason to show some interest about the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation. Otherwise, nonsense!” (via @markkersten)

  • jeligula

    Ha!  That one quote did more toward discrediting Chinese mainline politics than anything  else possibly could have.  Not even reality.  And it was humorous, too.

    • http://www.facebook.com/stanestane Stanislav Stankovic

       Well to be fair, the same applies of a legion of non-believers who support Tibetan government in exile. They too should embrace reincarnation as a concept and Buddhism as religion before comenting on who the next guy in line should be. If you don’t believe in this particular dogma, then its one hand picked guy vs. another hand picked guy.

      • Mathusla

        Greetings Stanislav Stankovic. I don’t practice Buddhism as a religion. However, i do regard it as a highly evolved spiritual system which has been in place in Tibet since the 8th century. 
        From the 13th-14th century the system that identifies incarnate Lamas (teachers) has been perfected and finessed to such an extent that successions to very important incarnations like the Dalai Lama cannot be interfered with.
        Because the Dalai Lama is the head of Tibetan Buddhism and is the spiritual guide to over half a billion Buddhists world wide his succession is very carefully monitored.
        So the  Chinese Communist Government in Beijing, or any other Government or religious group or sect or cult, no matter how powerful can influence the process, unless the previous incarnation gives permission. This is what it is all about: These incarnations before they die choose there next parents and they leave instructions with close friends and those who are highly trained in the process of locating the next incarnation. If you want to find out more about this ask. All the best. Mathusla.   

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_YHVYXNO2RJHS5WMWOW5JR3FQEY Spraynard Kruger

    China, in this case, doesn’t give a shit about the “reincarnation” of the Dalai Lama. They care about which man will take over as Dalai Lama in the sense of a leader of a group of people. I actually think it’s pretty naive of the Dalai Lama to say China needs to believe in religion to feel like they have an interest in the next Dalai Lama. To them, it’s just like any other political or religious leader being appointed; not anything to do with mystical reincarnation.

    • Mantissa128

      The Dalai Lama – naive? Oh man. I don’t even know what to say to that. “Woosh”, perhaps.

      I wish all this weren’t happening to him, and Tibet. But I suppose it’s his karma… or maybe ours. Lots of folks have heard of him, and heard him, that wouldn’t have otherwise.

      Keep on truckin’, DL.

    • http://mordicai.livejournal.com Mordicai

      …right, & the Dalai Lama said “I deny your authority to dictate our religion on the basis of your oppressive military occupation; you have no authority in these matters, so stop with that nonsense.  Furthermore I implicitly refute the validity of your aforementioned occupation.”

      SUPER NAIVE RIGHT?

      • ryuthrowsstuff

        Well its important to point out that the Dalai Lama isn’t solely a religious leader, but traditionally the political monarch of the Tibetan government. 

        A government that is in exile, and a position the current Dalai Lama has effectively abdicated in favor of democracy. So still not something the Chinese can have much effect on. But I’m sure that’s more their goal. 

        • http://mordicai.livejournal.com Mordicai

          Plus they already did a smash & grab on the Panchen Lama.

  • Ipo

    I think it only right that Beijing selects the next Pope. 

    • Sagodjur

      It would be awesome if all the children who have been abused by clergy got to pick the next Pope. And the Dalai Lama could pick the next leader of China. And American citizens could pick the next president…

      Okay, never mind. Those scenarios will probably never come to pass…

    • BombBlastLightingWaltz

       And Shaw. 

  • http://daruiburns.tumblr.com/ Dlo Burns

    Please no Mao reincarnations, I don’t think the coffin industry could take it.

    • BombBlastLightingWaltz

      Boon times can take anything you throw at them….

  • awjt

    “Sure, when llamas fly out my butt!”

  • BombBlastLightingWaltz

    Any thing made in China, breaks after first use or close to it. So buy more!!!!

  • ryuthrowsstuff
  • miasm

    Even my unsettling vision of Chairman Mao going full Rainbow-Body is still not the most absurd element of this situation.

  • timmaguire

    It is a problem, though, isn’t it? By tradition (or design, take your pick), each Dalai Lama is born in Tibet. Which, of course, China controls. So China will have a say in the next Dalai Lama.

    His death will be a critical moment in the future of Tibetan Buddhism and he is trying to lay the ground work for its official removal from its ancestral homeland.

    He is far from naive, he is simply in a difficult position (a place he has been in for most of his life)