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#2900 - Monday, August 13, 2007 - Editor: Gloria Lee
Nondual Highlights
China tells Tibet's living Buddhas to
apply for reincarnation
BEIJING - - Tibetan living Buddhas are no longer allowed
to be reincarnated without permission from the atheist Chinese
government, state media reported Friday.
The new rules are "an important move to
institutionalise the management of reincarnation of living
Buddhas," the Xinhua news agency said.
According to the regulations, which take effect on September 1, all reincarnation applications must be submitted to religious affairs officials for approval, Xinhua said. China is ruled by the Communist Party, which, despite being officially atheist, maintains strict controls over Tibetan Buddhism and all other religions.
Living Buddhas are an important element in Tibetan Buddhism, forming a clergy of influential religious figures who are believed to be continuously reincarnated to take up their positions anew.
Often there is more than one candidate competing to be recognised as the actual reincarnation, and the authority to decide who is the true claimant carries significant power. This is especially true in the case of the Panchen Lama, the second-most influential figure in Tibetan Buddhism behind the Dalai Lama.
Chinese authorities detained the Dalai Lama's choice as the Panchen Lama in 1995 when the boy was six years old, and he has not been seen in public since.
The Chinese government's choice as the Panchen Lama has meanwhile been paraded around the country in recent years to promote China's rule over his homeland.
China sent troops in to
"liberate" Tibet in 1951. The Dalai Lama later fled to
India in 1959 after a failed uprising and established a
government-in-exile in Dharamsala.
links:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070803/ts_afp/chinatibetreligionincarnation_070803074931 http://rawstory.com/news/afp/China_tells_Tibet_s_living_Buddhas__08032007.html
posted by Bob O'Hearn
Even if your house is flooded or burnt to the ground, whatever the danger that threatens it, let it concern only the house. If there's a flood, don't let it flood your mind. If there's a fire, don't let it burn your heart, let it be merely the house, that which is external to you, that is flooded and burned. Allow the mind to let go of its attachments. The time is ripe.
--Ajahn Chah
When we meditate, we're creating a
situation in which there's a lot of space. That sounds good but
actually it can be unnerving, because when there's a lot of space
you can see very clearly; you've removed your veils, your
shields, your armor, your dark glasses, your earplugs, your
layers of mittens, your heavy boots. Finally you're standing,
touching the earth, feeling the sun on your body, feeling its
brightness, hearing all the noises without anything to dull the
sound. You take off your nose plug, and maybe you're going to
smell lovely fresh air or maybe you're in the middle of a garbage
dump. Since meditation has this quality of bringing you very
close to yourself and your experience, you tend to come up
against your edge faster. It's not an edge that wasn't there
before, but because things are so simplified and clear, you see
it, and you see it vividly and clearly.
--Pema Chodron
The teaching that the world is a dream-like appearance is unquestionably difficult to fathom when a person believes he or she is a separate individual. When one feels separate, everything that is seen as "other" somehow gains greater weight and authenticity. When the sense of separateness falls away, however, and one recognizes one's true nature as infinite and unbounded, that which is physical and transitory stands out as changeable and therefore unreal. Paradoxically, one may also feel a greater sense of connection to everything—even the world of physical objects—because of the pervasive sense of oneness that is ever present. One sees the physical as false or illusory because it is changeable but knows that it exists by virtue of the underlying oneness—the unbounded consciousness that is who we are. At least, that has been my experience in the months since Sailor Bob left.
Living Reality by James Braha
posted to Wisdom-l
Lost in the wilderness between
true awareness and the senses,
I suddenly woke inside myself
like a lotus opening
in waterweeds.
- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
From "Naked Song"
Versions by Coleman Barks posted to AlongTheWay