It’s now illegal to reincarnate in Tibet without Chinese authorization (Link HERE). I think that’s about as tightly-wound as any government ever needs to get.

China has banned Buddhist monks in Tibet from reincarnating without government permission. According to a statement issued by the State Administration for Religious Affairs, the law, which goes into effect next month and strictly stipulates the procedures by which one is to reincarnate, is “an important move to institutionalize management of reincarnation.”

I’d just love to know how they plan on enforcing that one. “Sayyy, weren’t you a cockroach yesterday? I’m writing a big, fat ticket for you, my friend.” Unfortunately, the reason for the move isn’t as big of a laugh.

But beyond the irony lies China’s true motive: to cut off the influence of the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual and political leader, and to quell the region’s Buddhist religious establishment more than 50 years after China invaded the small Himalayan country. By barring any Buddhist monk living outside China from seeking reincarnation, the law effectively gives Chinese authorities the power to choose the next Dalai Lama, whose soul, by tradition, is reborn as a new human to continue the work of relieving suffering.

At 72, the Dalai Lama, who has lived in India since 1959, is beginning to plan his succession, saying that he refuses to be reborn in Tibet so long as it’s under Chinese control. Assuming he’s able to master the feat of controlling his rebirth, as Dalai Lamas supposedly have for the last 600 years, the situation is shaping up in which there could be two Dalai Lamas: one picked by the Chinese government, the other by Buddhist monks. “It will be a very hot issue,” says Paul Harrison, a Buddhism scholar at Stanford.

So it’s a bit of checkmate for the Tibetan Buddhists. I don’t know where the Dalai Lama goes from here, but according to the experts, he could go anywhere …

Buddhism scholars agree that it will likely be from within the 130,000 Tibetan exiles spread throughout India, Europe and North America.

Well, almost anywhere …

Recent surveys by the Barna Group, a Christian research nonprofit, have found that a quarter of U.S. Christians, including 10 percent of all born-again Christians, embrace it as their favored end-of-life view. A non-Tibetan Dalai Lama, experts say, is probably out of the question.

Gee, y’think? I’m kind of surprised that that many Christians say they believe in reincarnation, (maybe they thought they said “THE incarnation”?) but it’s just a shame that we’re out of the running to be the next Dalai Lama. I’d look good in the saffron robes!