Teaching Comparative

Living Buddha permits required in China

If you are looking for an example of how Party government in China tries to ensure that all civil society groups in the country are controlled by the government/Party, the 18 August issue of The Economist explains that in China, you now need a permit to be reincarnated.

Reincarnation rules

"LIKE many religious monuments around the world, the Yonghegong or 'Lama Temple' in Beijing is both tourist trap and place of worship...

"But in the shrines themselves the devout pray with real fervour. They are almost all Chinese. Like other religions, Tibetan Buddhism, and even its spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, is gaining new adherents in China. In Tibet itself, there seems little sign that faith is weakening.

"This helps explain 'Order Number Five', passed at a conference of the State Administration of Religious Affairs (SARA) in Beijing last month, and due to come into effect on September 1st. It covers 'management measures for the reincarnation of living Buddhas in Tibetan Buddhism'. In this faith, some who have achieved enlightenment can opt to be reborn, to help those less blessed.

"The most famous living Buddha is of course the Dalai Lama himself, but there are many others...

"Living Buddhas are typically identified in boyhood through a mixture of tests -- familiarity with the late incarnation’s belongings -- and divination. Now the government wants to control the process, arrogating to itself the right to approve incarnations. Bizarrely, Order Number Five even provides for 'living Buddha permits', to be registered at SARA. Reincarnation, moreover, is banned in 'cities with delineated districts', which can only refer to Xining and Lhasa, the capital of what is now the 'Tibet Autonomous Region' of China.

"The government’s odd meddling in religious affairs is not confined to Buddhism. One of China’s chief disputes with the Vatican is over its refusal to allow the Pope the authority to appoint bishops. But its apparent determination to control religion in Tibet is especially intense, because Buddhism is so bound up with Tibetans’ identity and nationalism..."

---

Follow Up:

Bishop Arrested

"Bishop Jia Zhiguo, the underground Roman Catholic bishop of the Zheng Ding Diocese in Hebei Province, was arrested, according to the Cardinal Kung Foundation, a group in Stamford, Conn., that promotes religious freedom for Catholics in China. It was the 11th time he has been arrested since the beginning of 2004; he previously served 20 years in prison. Underground and state-sanctioned Catholic churches operate separately in China, with underground churches as targets of repression that varies from province to province."

---

Labels: China, civil society, policy

posted by Ken Wedding @ 7:10 AM