How They Find the Dalai Lama

At least a third of the population of the world believes in reincarnation. Most of these believers are Hindus or Buddhists.

The state Buddhism of Tibet has carried this to one logical end. The Dalai Lama, the temporal head of Tibetan Buddhism, is believed by Tibetan Buddhists to be the fourteenth incarnation of the same soul, which is considered to be an incarnation of Avalokite?vara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion.

Whenever a Dalai Lama dies, a search is begun for his new incarnation. Signs are examined. The State Oracle is questioned. Then a search is begun in the area indicated. Once a likely candidate is found, possessions of the former Dalai Lama are presented to him, along with items that didn’t belong to the former Dalai Lama, to see if he recognizes the Dalai Lama’s actual possessions. If so, the boy is recognized as the Dalai Lama’s new incarnation and trained to resume his position.

It was just such a procedure that was used to find the current Dalai Lama.

Think about it. In the West, what would be called a series of coincidences is used to determine a country’s head of state. The coincidences lead to a child who coincidentally is able to identify possessions belonging to his predecessor. The coincidences have most recently led to a man who has continued to lead his people through a half century of cultural destruction by the Chinese invaders, a man who has been recognized with the Nobel Peace Prize for his continued advocacy of non-violence in his people’s struggle. An amazing man.

What an amazing series of coincidences.

Technorati Tags: beliefs, reincarnation, Tibetan Buddhism, Dalai Lama, coincidence

Popularity: 29% [?]

This entry is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.