An excerpt from an MSNBC article about China and another crazy law:
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.”
How odd.
Well they banned birth. So banning reincarnation is an obvious next step…
But seriously, they don’t know who someone has re-incarnated into until after the “fact”, so banning it will be hard. In any case, they’ve covered their bases by kidnapping the Panchen Lama, who is charged with the task of “finding” the reincarnated Dalai Lama, and installed another in his place. So they’ve got the whole process of the reincarnation they’re particularly worried about under-wraps. Or so they hope all will believe.
Who needs TV for comedy