Posted on 07/05/2025 7:50:21 PM PDT by Ciaphas Cain
For much of the past century, the Dalai Lama has been the living embodiment of Tibet’s struggle for greater freedoms under Chinese Communist Party rule, sustaining the cause from exile even as an increasingly powerful Beijing has become ever more assertive in suppressing it.
As his 90th birthday approaches this Sunday, the spiritual leader for millions of followers of Tibetan Buddhism worldwide is bracing for a final showdown with Beijing: the battle over who will control his reincarnation.
On Wednesday, the Dalai Lama announced that he will have a successor after his death, and that his office will have the sole authority to identify his reincarnation.
“I am affirming that the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue,” the Nobel Peace laureate said in a video message to religious elders gathering in Dharamshala, India, where he has found refuge since Chinese communist troops put down an armed uprising in his mountainous homeland in 1959.
The cycle of rebirth lies at the core of Tibetan Buddhist belief. Unlike ordinary beings who are reborn involuntarily under the influence of karma, a revered spiritual master like the Dalai Lama is believed to choose the place and time of his rebirth – guided by compassion and prayer – for the benefit of all sentient beings.
But the reincarnation of the current Dalai Lama is not only pivotal to Tibetan Buddhism. It has become a historic battleground for the future of Tibet, with potentially far-reaching geopolitical implications for the broader Himalayan region.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Good one! He may have been prompted, and he does have an active sense of humor.
Thanks for the laugh.
Beautiful. He got all of that one.
LOL!!!!!
In the late 1970s, he came to Seattle where I got to meet him and shake hands. He did have quite the presence.
Will there be any young boys there to suck Lama’s tongue? I’m still trying to unseen that horror a few years ago.
CNN is the epitome of sophomoric groupthink.
You're right. Anything beyond that is beyond them.
“...where he has found refuge since Chinese communist troops put down an armed uprising in his mountainous homeland in 1959.”
Might need a fact-check on that. CNN is not a reputable news organization.
He ought to choose to be reincarnated in the U.S.A. Best if he were to avoid California and several other states, also any large city.
I’m arranging a 2-man golf match. The Dalai Llma (Big Hitter) vs. Kim Jong-un (Mr. Hole-in-One). Should be one for the ages.
Is the current Dalai Lama the same one Lowell Thomas and Richard Halliburton met decades ago?
Yes, he has officially been Dalai Lama since 1939.
In a news story I thought was particularly silly, I read in 2007 or 2008 that the Chinese government passed a law declaring that Buddhist monks could only reincarnate with the government’s permission. The Dalai Lama responded by saying he didn’t plan to reincarnate in China anyway. Instead, he would come back in North America, thereby escaping the Chinese Communist Party. I take that to mean he greatly enjoyed his trips over here.
Almost like this reincarnation junk is just that, junk!
And I just thought I was being facetious. I guess I missed that story.
There were some topics about China’s power over the afterlife:
https://freerepublic.com/focus/chat/4327092/posts?page=25#25
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