Monday, June 01, 2009
Reincarnated Lama goes off the rails
The Spanish boy handpicked by the Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of a spiritual leader has renounced his monastic life and spoken out against the monks who worshipped him.
Osel Hita Torres was a 14-month-old toddler when the Dalai Lama recognised him as the reincarnation of a recently deceased spiritual teacher, Lama Yeshe, in 1986. The "peaceful, meditative" baby - as his biography on the website of the Foundation to Preserve the Mahayana Tradition, which has 130 teaching centres around the world, describes him - was chosen over nine other candidates and "enthroned". Renamed Lama Tenzin Osel Rinpoche, the boy guru was taken away from his family in Granada and installed in a monastery in southern India. Growing up, he was only allowed to socialise with other reincarnated souls - although for a brief period he lived next to the actor Richard Gere's cabin.
IMO: This raises many questions in my mind. Firstly I have always more or less considered that it is "horses for courses" in this spiritual stuff. I studied Zen for years and suppose I never really "got it" like an expert would. Patanjali's stuff came much closer to home, and I stood for hours on my head as a boy. I enjoyed as a child and youth reading Adler and Stekel, although I guessed Jung to be nearer to the 'bee's knees'. To say a lot of this stuff is total crap is only too easy to do (and unfair IMO), but I am not too surprised that Torres could not be easily thrown into Buddhism. Secondly may it not be that Torres may mature to other views, perhaps more congenial to Buddhism; perhaps he could simply be an unwitting media victim, a sort of transcendental Susan Boyle. Thirdly, there could even have been "too much spin" - and Buddhism like somewhat similar things like the "I Ching" are full of instances where matters fall back on the spinner. For example absurd sounding replies to questions asked of the I Ching are a common result sometimes said to be caused by "pestering the oracle" with too many queries. And there is so much more which comes to mind. But, critically, I do not see the fate of Tibet as being benefitted by any of these factors, or anything else likely to come out of this unhappy matter at this time. Perhaps it would have been better if the followers of the Dalai Lama had been more vegetarian in outlook. I recall a television program on which a butcher's shop was shown in the market area near such a monastery. In view of the supposed acceptance of reincarnation in Buddhism, they seem to have got it wrong somewhere and I thought so at the time. I am not suggesting that it is necessary to believe in rebirth or reincarnation but it all seems a bit peculiar to me. Good deeds in present life are what counts to many people.
Osel Hita Torres was a 14-month-old toddler when the Dalai Lama recognised him as the reincarnation of a recently deceased spiritual teacher, Lama Yeshe, in 1986. The "peaceful, meditative" baby - as his biography on the website of the Foundation to Preserve the Mahayana Tradition, which has 130 teaching centres around the world, describes him - was chosen over nine other candidates and "enthroned". Renamed Lama Tenzin Osel Rinpoche, the boy guru was taken away from his family in Granada and installed in a monastery in southern India. Growing up, he was only allowed to socialise with other reincarnated souls - although for a brief period he lived next to the actor Richard Gere's cabin.
IMO: This raises many questions in my mind. Firstly I have always more or less considered that it is "horses for courses" in this spiritual stuff. I studied Zen for years and suppose I never really "got it" like an expert would. Patanjali's stuff came much closer to home, and I stood for hours on my head as a boy. I enjoyed as a child and youth reading Adler and Stekel, although I guessed Jung to be nearer to the 'bee's knees'. To say a lot of this stuff is total crap is only too easy to do (and unfair IMO), but I am not too surprised that Torres could not be easily thrown into Buddhism. Secondly may it not be that Torres may mature to other views, perhaps more congenial to Buddhism; perhaps he could simply be an unwitting media victim, a sort of transcendental Susan Boyle. Thirdly, there could even have been "too much spin" - and Buddhism like somewhat similar things like the "I Ching" are full of instances where matters fall back on the spinner. For example absurd sounding replies to questions asked of the I Ching are a common result sometimes said to be caused by "pestering the oracle" with too many queries. And there is so much more which comes to mind. But, critically, I do not see the fate of Tibet as being benefitted by any of these factors, or anything else likely to come out of this unhappy matter at this time. Perhaps it would have been better if the followers of the Dalai Lama had been more vegetarian in outlook. I recall a television program on which a butcher's shop was shown in the market area near such a monastery. In view of the supposed acceptance of reincarnation in Buddhism, they seem to have got it wrong somewhere and I thought so at the time. I am not suggesting that it is necessary to believe in rebirth or reincarnation but it all seems a bit peculiar to me. Good deeds in present life are what counts to many people.
# posted by uv : 6:05 AM
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