China Bans Reincarnation

There are some things that are just so outlandish that it defies reason to even mention it. I remember when I was joking around with this one young lady about how the Russians were going to launch a manned space craft & land on the sun to do experiments. She, rightly so, quickly responded that they couldn't do that because they would burn up. Hook. Line. Sinker. All I had to do was give the punch line: "They're going at night." That's funny, right there, I don't care who you are.

Somehow this girl's synapses managed to do the impossible. She looked at me, square in the eye & said in a most defiant attitude, "Well, you didn't tell me they were going at night & they would be landing on the side with no heat."

I stood there with my mouth open, unable to even utter a word. So did the other 10 folks standing there. Amazing.

In come the Chinese. 2007. And they have banned reincarnation. That's right. It is now illegal in China for Tibetan Buddhist monks to reincarnate without the permission of the Chinese gov't.

According to the news report, there are strict guidelines about a reappearing Buddha, though the penalty is not mentioned. The article pointed out that it effectively gives the Chinese gov't the legal authority to name the next Dalai Lama.

The law is further explained in China Daily (e.g., propaganda that doesn't pretend to make sense) that the law is to aid religious freedom. Get this quote:

"The rule is bound to have significant impact on standardizing governance on living Buddha reincarnation, protecting people's religious freedom, maintaining the normal order of Tibetan Buddhism and the building of a harmonious society."

Sounds like Double Speak to me . . . or like the "justification" on resolutions telling bloggers to hush because it is hurting our evangelism efforts. Again: do whuuut? Like dissenting blogs of SBCers are being read by the unchurched. Yeah, right.

And the Russians are going to land on the Dark Side of the Sun for exploration.