No Reincarnation Without Government Permission!

Unfortunately, this is not a joke:

In one of history's more absurd acts of totalitarianism, China has banned Buddhist monks in Tibet from reincarnating without government permission.

According to a statement issued by the State Administration for Religious Affairs, the law, which goes into effect next month and strictly stipulates the procedures by which one is to reincarnate, is "an important move to institutionalize management of reincarnation."

What sounds completely ridiculous at first has a far more insidious motive:

But beyond the irony lies China's true motive: to cut off the influence of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual and political leader, and to quell the region's Buddhist religious establishment more than 50 years after China invaded the small Himalayan country. By barring any Buddhist monk living outside China from seeking reincarnation, the law effectively gives Chinese authorities the power to choose the next Dalai Lama, whose soul, by tradition, is reborn as a new human to continue the work of relieving suffering.

Unfortunately, my friend was right. China is increasingly cracking down on religious freedom.

It looks like China's new policy is going to create a huge political battle for the legitimacy of who is the next Dalai Lama:

At 72, the Dalai Lama, who has lived in India since 1959, is beginning to plan his succession, saying that he refuses to be reborn in Tibet so long as it's under Chinese control. Assuming he's able to master the feat of controlling his rebirth, as Dalai Lamas supposedly have for the last 600 years, the situation is shaping up in which there could be two Dalai Lamas: one picked by the Chinese government, the other by Buddhist monks. "It will be a very hot issue," says Paul Harrison, a Buddhism scholar at Stanford. "The Dalai Lama has been the prime symbol of unity and national identity in Tibet, and so it's quite likely the battle for his incarnation will be a lot more important than the others."

It is sad to see a government interfering with people's freedom to practice their religion as they see fit. While I certainly have a different religious perspective from the Tibetan Buddhists, I believe all people should have the right to worship as they believe, free from the coercion of government. In the word's of Becket Fund's Kevin Seamus Hasson, everyone should have The Right to Be Wrong. Sadly, China doesn't seem to agree.

(HT Alex Tabarrok)