As an aging hippie, I remember well my fascination with and intense study of the fine art of reincarnation. Through the judicious use of various substances, I was able to track my journey through numerous lives, an illuminating if somewhat humbling experience.
For example, I spent some time as an artichoke, a rather large and impressive one if memory serves. But as pride cometh before a fall, so too does an inability to stride prove an encumbrance when trying to avoid a pot of boiling water. I was also for a short time an escargot which no doubt accounts for my obsession with that fine food today. My stint as a caterpillar was also short lived—and I never knew whether, after entering that cocoon stage, I would have emerged as a lowly moth or majestic monarch—when a chickadee of all birds snapped me up as supper for her babies. I was a cat and a dog, of course, but I won’t reveal which is higher on the incarnation chain. And I have nothing to say about being a bonobo except that it was extremely enjoyable.
So it was a measure of concern that I read in the Thursday, March 11 New York Times about more tension between Beijing and the Dalai Lama.
In a nutshell, Mr. Lama (Dalai to his friends?) said he might not be reincarnated denying some lucky soul the chance to be the 15th Dalai Lama. He offered no explanation for this declaration. Perhaps, as with Buddha, he has reached the ultimate state and is ready to join the great Mandala or Wheel of Life, invented by Peter, Paul, and Mary. Or perhaps he’s just sick and tired of the Chinese interfering with Tibet and the Buddhist religion. Or perhaps he’s just joking. The article was, after all, written by Chris Buckley, although it’s not clear if it’s that Chris Buckley.Regardless, the Chinese reaction was swift and decisive, they being a swift and decisive people.
“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.” Mr. Shu went on, ‘Decision-making power over the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, and over the end or survival of this, resides in the central government of China’.”
Really? A so-called communist government that is by definition atheist is to decide matters of Buddhism? Now that’s power, I’ll tell you.
Now I’m not saying this is all about me, although it is my blog, but if Mr. Lama decides not to reincarnate, what does that mean for the rest of us? I just know that my next incarnation is going to be a beaut; I’ve been working all my current life to be a good boy so the next one will be wine, women, and song.
Quel surprise! All my good deeds may be for naught if this little old man who has a bee in his bonnet over China’s treatment of his people in Tibet declares The End of Reincarnation. Damn.
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