the blink times

Under political pressure from the Middle Kingdom (kindly note that I’m not hinting at Tolkien’s beautiful world of hobbits and elves), His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso is finally on the verge of abandoning Tibet’s longest tradition – the search and succession of the next Dalai Lama.

For 13 incarnations, the appointment of Tibet’s spiritual leader has always begun with the death of his predecessor. The aides at Lhasa will emerge from the walls of their temple, to search for a child who recognises or shows familiarity with the items that were a part of the monk’s journey through life. Among the many kids chosen, only one of them will be recognised as the next incarnation of the Dalai Lama. The search, which is based on the Buddhist doctrine of reincarnation, is perhaps the final ritual that is still being practised by a religion faced with growing secularisation today.

On this note, it becomes highly unfortunate that the Leader of Tibet (and quite possibly Buddhism’s capital) is considering methods similar to those conducted at a papal conclave, even though it is to prevent the communist dickheads from installing a puppet in the Himalayas. I’m for the idea that reincarnation only exists in gloomy fantasy books, but the introduction of democratic voting to a religion pre-dating Christianity might mean that the tenets Siddharta died for have been tragically undermined. As a sect that espouses tantric seclusion, Tibetan Buddhists believe that anyone, not just wise hermits meditating in caves, may achieve the state of Buddhahood without the endless cycles which may turn them into a pig or cockroach. Now with the referendum of this issue underway, are we indeed reaching the end of the bodhisattvas?

We have to get reincarnated to find out.