Atheistic China forces Dalai Lama to reincarnate

The atheistic Republic of China has declared itself the ultimate authority regarding the afterlife. There is little news coming out of this country that makes me laugh, but this story, reported in the New York Times, had me rolling.

How can a governing body insist that this is the only life there is, and at the same time claim to be the sole and rightful guardian of the afterlife? They can't; not consistently anyway. But they will when there is a political liability to their official position on religion.

Here's an excerpt from the New York Times article explaining that the Chinese government wants to be able to appoint the next Dalai Lama so that they can ensure they have their way in Tibet. 

Chinese Communist Party leaders are afraid that the Dalai Lama will not have an afterlife. Worried enough that this week, officials repeatedly warned that he must reincarnate, and on their terms.

Tensions over what will happen when the 14th Dalai Lama, who is 79, dies, and particularly over who decides who will succeed him as the most prominent leader in Tibetan Buddhism, have ignited at the annual gathering of China’s legislators in Beijing.

Officials have amplified their argument that the Communist government is the proper guardian of the Dalai Lama’s succession through an intricate process of reincarnation that has involved lamas, or senior monks, visiting a sacred lake and divining dreams.

Party functionaries were incensed by the exiled Dalai Lama’s recent speculation that he might end his spiritual lineage and not reincarnate. That would confound the Chinese government’s plans to engineer a succession that would produce a putative 15th Dalai Lama who accepts China’s presence and policies in Tibet. Their anger welled up on Wednesday, as it had a day earlier.

Zhu Weiqun, a Communist Party official who has long dealt with Tibetan issues, told reporters in Beijing on Wednesday that the Dalai Lama had, essentially, no say over whether he was reincarnated. That was ultimately for the Chinese government to decide, he said, according to a transcript of his comments on the website of People’s Daily, the party’s main newspaper.

“Decision-making power over the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, and over the end or survival of this lineage, resides in the central government of China,” said Mr. Zhu, formerly a deputy head of the United Front Department of the Communist Party, which oversees dealings with religious and other nonparty groups.

Read the full story on the New York Times website here.

Apparently, being religious is not a prerequisite for being a religious hypocrite. Who knew?!