... Or something like that.
The 90-year-old Dalai Lama has announced that after he dies, he officially plans on reincarnating himself.
As far back as 1969, I made clear that concerned people should decide whether the Dalai Lama's reincarnations should continue in the future.
I also said, ‘When I am about ninety I will consult the high Lamas of the Tibetan Buddhist traditions, the Tibetan public, and other concerned people who follow Tibetan Buddhism, to re-evaluate whether or not the institution of the Dalai Lama should continue.'
I am affirming that the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue.
According to tradition, the Dalai Lama can uniquely choose who he reincarnates as. The current Dalia Lama was two when he was discovered.
You might think that with such a power he could just let folks know who he was coming back as.
But where's the fun in that?
He has hinted that he really likes attractive blond women, and that his next choice might be to come back as a girl boss.
In reality, the process of discovering who he chooses to reincarnate as involves a committee of the Gaden Phodrang Trust along with Tibetan Buddhists and the oath-bound Dharma Protectors all getting together and making a proclamation that this is the new Dalai Lama.
But, that's not how the current Dalai Lama was reincarnated.
The committee stuff is all new and only started in 2011. The actual means of discerning who the Dalai Lama chose to be reincarnated as is through a drawing of lots from a golden urn, and it's been that way since 1792 when the process was introduced by the Qing dynasty.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the country's leaders had the right to approve the Dalai Lama's successor, as a legacy from imperial times, and that China practices a policy of freedom of religious belief.
‘The child reincarnation of a major Living Buddha such as the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama needs to be identified through lot-drawing from a golden urn and approval by the central government,' Mao said at a news conference.
But critics argue that process will be manipulated by Beijing, as noted in the "approval by the central government" part.
Whether he's chosen by lot, or a lot of Tibetan dudes in a committee, I can hazard a guess about his next avatar.
I doubt it's going to be a blond girl boss.
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