In one of history's more absurd acts of totalitarianism, China has banned Buddhist monks in Tibet from reincarnating without government permission.
This makes me want to start making lists of our policies that are practically begging to be violated. But, I won't. You should, though.
6 comments:
Dolores Umbridge would be proud
rj--that's the best comment ever.
I think Dolores is almost scarier than Voldemort.
I have saved a few policy memos from the company I worked for five years ago. My two favorite excerpts:
Summer Dress Code: No bare legs are allowed. All female employees must wear pantyhose.
Since the dress code did not require female employees to wear skirs, I asked a few people, when I wear pants, who is going to check and make sure that I am wearing pantyhose and not knee highs?
Employees who choose not to wear the company T-shirt on casual Fridays are required to donate $1 to the summer picnic fund.
I realize that none of these quite reach the depths of unauthorized reincarnation, but you take your fun where you can get it.
Oh gosh, people, there is some logic here. If you allow Buddhist monks to re-incarnate without permission, soon everyone will want to do it! :-)
The no unauthorized reincarnation rule actually makes some sense, in a twisted way. Presumably what they want is to control who the next Whatever Lama is (not just the Dalai Lama but other reincarnated ones). They can already put pressure on the monks in advance, but once the monks have declared "This kid is the reincarnated Whatever Lama" it's very hard to control the situation. With this new rule, the government is effectively holding the kid hostage. If the monks announce that some kid is the reincarnated Whatever Lama, then the kid may be punished for reincarnating without permission (the monks can't deny that the kid has reincarnated without contradicting their religious beliefs, and it is certainly without permission). Who knows whether the Chinese government would actually punish the kid or how they would do it, but you have to admit it's a possibility. The net effect is that monks have an incentive not to publicize these reincarnations, which is a pretty severe limitation on their religious activities.
P.S. The "without permission" part is crucial. The government's goal is to have substantial say in choosing the kids and shaping their upbringing. They really want the monks to sound them out first. If the government approves of the candidates then they can declare that, if reincarnation has in fact taken place, then it is with permission. If the monks don't play along, then there will be trouble.
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