In power grab from the Dalai Lama, China announces list of “verified living Buddhas” for Tibetan Buddhism

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In what can only be described as an odd, if not cynical, move by the self-avowed atheist government of China, a new list of “verified living Buddhas” or tulkus, reincarnated Buddhist masters, has been published in Chinese and Tibetan languages at hf.tibet.cn/. The purported role of the site is to inform citizens about the “real” high lamas and teachers, complete with ID numbers and monastery listings. The site, known as R(name removed by moderator)ocheonline, is said to list 870 authentic R(name removed by moderator)oche’s (an honorific title meaning ‘precious one’ given to tulkus).
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patheos.com/blogs/americanbuddhist/2016/01/in-power-grab-from-the-dalai-lama-china-announces-list-of-verified-living-buddhas-for-tibetan-buddhism.html
 
Interesting.

As the Chinese government tightens its grip on Buddhism, I wonder if underground communities will emerge, as happened with China’s underground Catholic Church. Obviously the two situations have huge differences, but the principle of the government authenticating clergy bears notable similarity. One thinks also of Christians in 16th c. England and 20th c. Russia.
 
I am not surprised, honestly. After all, it is said that China’s religious persecution is quite severe, especially with Christians. God protect all the Chinese and Tibetan people… †
 
To echo earlier statements, this is not surprising.

The Catholic Church is banned in the People’s Republic of China. Instead, citizens are free to go to the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, a collection of organizations that are made to look like the Catholic Church but are actually completely controlled by the communist government in Beijing.

Likewise, Protestantism is banned in the People’s Republic of China. Instead, there is a collection of organizations that are made to look like protestant churches but are actually entirely staffed and controlled by the communist government in Beijing.

See where I am going with this? They do this with every religion that enters their country. Islam, Buddhism, Protestantism, and Catholicism. All are completely controlled by the communist government.

People have attempted to set up churches independent of the government in Beijing. Usually, these churches are set up in discreet locations. Sometimes, however, they erect a whole church building – only for the communist government to demolish it or deface it as soon as they find out. Recently, the government has taken to simply demolishing all crosses – which is a great disgrace for the Chinese Christians and Catholics.
 
In light of some of the responses I’ve gotten on a different thread concerning the state of affairs in Ireland, I’m going to have to ask that nobody comment on China unless they are Chinese or have spent a significant amount of time living there. I really got some criticism for saying some things about Ireland despite the fact that I don’t live there.

Just to clarify, all of this is being said with tongue in cheek and as a rule, everyone can feel free to completely disregard these types of absurd constraints, as I most certainly will.
 
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