China’s Tech-Savvy, Burned-Out and Spiritually Adrift, Turn to Buddhism
BEIJING — For centuries, Buddhists seeking enlightenment made the journey to Longquan Monastery, a lonesome temple on a hilltop in the hinterlands of northwest Beijing. Under the ginkgo and cypress trees, they meditated, chanted and pored over ancient texts.
Now a new generation has arrived. They wear hoodies, watch television shows like “The Big Bang Theory” and use chat apps to trade mantras. Many, with jobs at some of China’s hottest and most demanding companies, feel burned-out and spiritually adrift, and are looking for change.
“Life in the outside world is chaotic and stressful,” said Sun Shaoxuan, 39, the chief technology officer at an education start-up. “Here, I can be at peace.”
As a spiritual revival sweeps China, Longquan has become a haven for a distinct brand of Buddhism, one that preaches connectivity instead of seclusion and that emphasizes practical advice over deep philosophy.
Monks and volunteers at Longquan Monastery in Beijing perform the morning songjing, or chanting of Buddhist sutras.
The temple is run by what may be some of the most highly educated monks in the world: nuclear physicists, math prodigies and computer programmers who gave up lives steeped in precision to explore the ambiguities of the spiritual realm.
To build a large following, the monks have put their digital prowess to work. They have pioneered a popular series of cartoons based on Buddhist ideas like suffering and reincarnation. (“Having a bad mood can ruin one’s good luck,” a recent cartoon said.) This past spring, they introduced a two-foot-tall robot named Xian’er to field questions from visitors, the temple’s first foray into artificial intelligence.
Traditionalists worry that Longquan’s flashy high-tech tools may have muddled the teachings of the Buddha, the dharma. They say its emphasis on practical topics like resolving family conflict and achieving success neglects more important philosophical questions.
But the leader of the monastery, the Venerable Xuecheng, who dispenses bits of wisdom every day to millions of online followers, has defended his approach, saying that Buddhism can stay relevant only by embracing modern tools. In a computer-dominated world, he has said, it is no longer realistic to expect people to attend daily lectures.
“Buddhism is old and traditional, but it’s also modern,” he said in an interview in March with the state-run news agency Xinhua. “We should use modern methods to spread the wisdom of Buddhism.”
On a recent Sunday morning, I stood outside Longquan’s gates, watching as hundreds of volunteers and tourists ascended to the temple. They bowed to one another and took turns sweeping cracked walkways. Some wandered through the organic vegetable garden, stopping to prop up unruly tomato plants.
The modernity of the temple was inescapable. While it was first built in 957, many of its original structures were demolished by war and, more recently, by the Cultural Revolution, when Chinese Buddhists were persecuted. Only at the turn of the century was the temple salvaged and rebuilt by a Buddhist businesswoman, Cai Qun. It reopened in 2005, and it is now equipped with fingerprint scanners, webcams and iPads for studying sutras, or Buddhist texts.
The state-run news media speaks of the temple in almost mythical terms. In success-driven China, many people marvel at the decision of the temple’s monks to leave behind lucrative careers in the tech sector to devote themselves to Buddhist study, rising at 3:55 a.m. each day for morning prayers.
Longquan has become a favorite showpiece for the ruling Communist Party, which officially promotes atheism but has led a push in recent years to revive ancient cultural traditions. In addition to leading Longquan, the Venerable Xuecheng is the president of the Buddhist Association of China, a party-controlled supervisory organ. The temple displays the writings of President Xi Jinping, and long-term residents must submit information about their patriotism and political views.
In a kind of soft-power spiritual push, the Venerable Xuecheng has sought to turn the teachings of the monastery into a global export, translating his writings into more than a dozen languages. In July, he helped open a temple in Botswana for Chinese expatriates.
Longquan’s proximity to several of Beijing’s top universities and the city’s main science and technology hubs has made it popular among young people. Many of them are searching for deeper meaning in a society rife with materialism. Others seek an escape from grueling schedules, and tips on relaxation.
The temple is renowned in start-up circles, in part because of a widely circulated rumor involving Zhang Xiaolong, one of the inventors of WeChat, a popular messaging app. News articles have claimed that Mr. Zhang, having hit a stumbling block, attended a retreat at the temple, after which he gained inspiration for WeChat. (Mr. Zhang, through a spokesman, denied the reports.)
Today, young entrepreneurs make the pilgrimage to Longquan in hopes of creative epiphanies. They work at some of China’s most prominent technology companies, including JD.com, an e-commerce giant, and Xiaomi, a smartphone maker.
“Some of the people who come here may not actually be incredibly interested or believe in Buddhism,” said Rax Xie, a software developer. “But they will have a certain connection and receptiveness to the thought and culture behind Buddhism.”
On Sunday mornings, Mr. Sun, the technology entrepreneur, makes his way from his suburban apartment to Longquan. He slips on a maroon robe and begins to chant.
Mr. Sun was once a skeptic of religion. But after a spiritual awakening last year, he said he came to embrace Buddhism, eschewing meat and alcohol and persuading his wife to join him on his spiritual journey.
I met Mr. Sun at a chanting ceremony one Sunday at Longquan. The meditation hall was covered in pillows decorated with lotus flowers; a large, gleaming Buddha statue rose from the front.
A wiry man with soft, dark eyes, he sat in the first row of worshipers, a bell in his hand, and wore a golden sash reading, “Thanks to those who taught me salvation.”
After the ceremony, he told me about his transformation. As he saw it, he was once self-centered and angry, prone to barking orders at his family and co-workers. While his mother was a Buddhist, he saw the religion as “just a story.”
Then, in the fall, he attended a three-day retreat at Longquan intended for information technology workers. He was forced to give up his cellphone and passed the time by meditating, listening to lectures and working in the garden. Almost immediately, he said, his mind felt cleaner and lighter.
Mr. Sun and his wife now attend services nearly every week. In the afternoons, he performs maintenance on Longquan’s websites and helps organize workshops on back-end programming.
He said he had come to see the temple as a “small utopia, free of conflict,” in a society that could sometimes feel riddled with deception.
“When you go to the mountain, you don’t need to think: ‘Who will trick me? Who will harass me? Who will think badly of me?’” he said. “Once you have a sense of security and trust, then you will want to open up, help others and explore your beliefs.”
Follow Javier C. Hernández on Twitter @HernandezJavier.
Emily Feng and Owen Guo contributed research.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/08/world ... d=71987722
BUDHISM
Seeking Solitude in Japan’s Mountain Monasteries
Excerpt:
Koyasan is one of the premier destinations for Buddhist pilgrims in Japan, and is considered one of the holiest sites in the country. It was chosen 1,200 years ago by the monk Kobo-Daishi for its lotus-like geography — a shallow valley nestled into a mountain — to be the headquarters of Esoteric Shingon Buddhism. The religion, which dates to the Tang dynasty, places an emphasis on daily ritual as a means of reaching enlightenment in an immediate, practicable way, developing what several monks described as a “Buddha nature.” Over the course of the last century, the religion’s birthplace has also attracted an increasing number of visitors without any background in Buddhism — visitors who seek out mountains, peace, history, or just a fleeting connection with the mysticism of another time.
I came for a little bit of each of these, teased by the promise of a remote corner of the country, thousands of miles removed, both physically and mentally, from the frenetic anxieties of New York. I wanted to challenge myself to a place with a different logic and rhythm, and to see myself disappear briefly into the magnitude of a 1,200-year-old rite. Also appealing was the prospect of a place that was truly dark at night — a place where the thick, spindly velvet of steep, tree-covered mountainsides soaks up the darkness completely. And like many others, as I would learn, I also wanted something a little bit naïve and capitalistic: to buy an ascetic experience.
More..
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/11/trav ... d=45305309
Excerpt:
Koyasan is one of the premier destinations for Buddhist pilgrims in Japan, and is considered one of the holiest sites in the country. It was chosen 1,200 years ago by the monk Kobo-Daishi for its lotus-like geography — a shallow valley nestled into a mountain — to be the headquarters of Esoteric Shingon Buddhism. The religion, which dates to the Tang dynasty, places an emphasis on daily ritual as a means of reaching enlightenment in an immediate, practicable way, developing what several monks described as a “Buddha nature.” Over the course of the last century, the religion’s birthplace has also attracted an increasing number of visitors without any background in Buddhism — visitors who seek out mountains, peace, history, or just a fleeting connection with the mysticism of another time.
I came for a little bit of each of these, teased by the promise of a remote corner of the country, thousands of miles removed, both physically and mentally, from the frenetic anxieties of New York. I wanted to challenge myself to a place with a different logic and rhythm, and to see myself disappear briefly into the magnitude of a 1,200-year-old rite. Also appealing was the prospect of a place that was truly dark at night — a place where the thick, spindly velvet of steep, tree-covered mountainsides soaks up the darkness completely. And like many others, as I would learn, I also wanted something a little bit naïve and capitalistic: to buy an ascetic experience.
More..
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/11/trav ... d=45305309
Why Are We Surprised When Buddhists Are Violent?
Most adherents of the world’s religions claim that their traditions place a premium on virtues like love, compassion and forgiveness, and that the state toward which they aim is one of universal peace. History has shown us, however, that religious traditions are human affairs, and that no matter how noble they may be in their aspirations, they display a full range of both human virtues and human failings.
While few sophisticated observers are shocked, then, by the occurrence of religious violence, there is one notable exception in this regard; there remains a persistent and widespread belief that Buddhist societies really are peaceful and harmonious. This presumption is evident in the reactions of astonishment many people have to events like those taking place in Myanmar. How, many wonder, could a Buddhist society — especially Buddhist monks! — have anything to do with something so monstrously violent as the ethnic cleansing now being perpetrated on Myanmar’s long-beleaguered Rohingya minority? Aren’t Buddhists supposed to be compassionate and pacifist?
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/05/opin ... dline&te=1
Most adherents of the world’s religions claim that their traditions place a premium on virtues like love, compassion and forgiveness, and that the state toward which they aim is one of universal peace. History has shown us, however, that religious traditions are human affairs, and that no matter how noble they may be in their aspirations, they display a full range of both human virtues and human failings.
While few sophisticated observers are shocked, then, by the occurrence of religious violence, there is one notable exception in this regard; there remains a persistent and widespread belief that Buddhist societies really are peaceful and harmonious. This presumption is evident in the reactions of astonishment many people have to events like those taking place in Myanmar. How, many wonder, could a Buddhist society — especially Buddhist monks! — have anything to do with something so monstrously violent as the ethnic cleansing now being perpetrated on Myanmar’s long-beleaguered Rohingya minority? Aren’t Buddhists supposed to be compassionate and pacifist?
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/05/opin ... dline&te=1
Buddhists Go to Battle: When Nationalism Overrides Pacifism
A call to arms for Sri Lankan monks. Ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya in Myanmar. A Buddhist faith known for pacifism is taking its place in a new age of nationalism.
Excerpt:
Incited by a politically powerful network of charismatic monks like Sumedhananda Thero, Buddhists have entered the era of militant tribalism, casting themselves as spiritual warriors who must defend their faith against an outside force.
Their sense of grievance might seem unlikely: In Sri Lanka and Myanmar, two countries that are on the forefront of a radical religious-nationalist movement, Buddhists constitute overwhelming majorities of the population. Yet some Buddhists, especially those who subscribe to the purist Theravada strain of the faith, are increasingly convinced that they are under existential threat, particularly from an Islam struggling with its own violent fringe.
As the tectonic plates of Buddhism and Islam collide, a portion of Buddhists are abandoning the peaceful tenets of their religion. Over the past few years, Buddhist mobs have waged deadly attacks against minority Muslim populations. Buddhist nationalist ideologues are using the spiritual authority of extremist monks to bolster their support.
“The Buddhists never used to hate us so much,” said Mohammed Naseer, the imam of the Hillur Mosque in Gintota, Sri Lanka, which was attacked by Buddhist mobs in 2017. “Now their monks spread a message that we don’t belong in this country and should leave. But where will we go? This is our home.”
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/08/worl ... 3053090709
A call to arms for Sri Lankan monks. Ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya in Myanmar. A Buddhist faith known for pacifism is taking its place in a new age of nationalism.
Excerpt:
Incited by a politically powerful network of charismatic monks like Sumedhananda Thero, Buddhists have entered the era of militant tribalism, casting themselves as spiritual warriors who must defend their faith against an outside force.
Their sense of grievance might seem unlikely: In Sri Lanka and Myanmar, two countries that are on the forefront of a radical religious-nationalist movement, Buddhists constitute overwhelming majorities of the population. Yet some Buddhists, especially those who subscribe to the purist Theravada strain of the faith, are increasingly convinced that they are under existential threat, particularly from an Islam struggling with its own violent fringe.
As the tectonic plates of Buddhism and Islam collide, a portion of Buddhists are abandoning the peaceful tenets of their religion. Over the past few years, Buddhist mobs have waged deadly attacks against minority Muslim populations. Buddhist nationalist ideologues are using the spiritual authority of extremist monks to bolster their support.
“The Buddhists never used to hate us so much,” said Mohammed Naseer, the imam of the Hillur Mosque in Gintota, Sri Lanka, which was attacked by Buddhist mobs in 2017. “Now their monks spread a message that we don’t belong in this country and should leave. But where will we go? This is our home.”
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/08/worl ... 3053090709
FOR BLACK BUDDHISTS STRUGGLING WITH INTERGENERATIONAL TRAUMA OF SLAVERY, SEGREGATION, AND INCARCERATION, THICH NHAT HANH
FOR BLACK BUDDHISTS STRUGGLING WITH INTERGENERATIONAL TRAUMA OF SLAVERY, SEGREGATION, AND INCARCERATION, THICH NHAT HANH’S TEACHINGS ARE VITAL
Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk who joined the ancestors earlier this year, was profoundly influential for Black Buddhists who’ve struggled under the weight of systemic racism and intergenerational trauma. Thay (as he was affectionately known) coined the term “Socially Engaged Buddhism.” Black Buddhists have adopted many of his teachings and applied them to the specific suffering of living in a system of white supremacy.
Insight meditation teacher Devin Berry, co-founder of Deep Time Liberation retreats—which are oriented towards healing Black peoples’ ancestral trauma—reflects on the practice of applying Thay’s teachings to a context in which the legacies of historical slavery are still present. Indeed, while there are many differences between forms of Buddhism in the United States, in many ways the practices of Black Buddhists closely mirror the practices of Asian Buddhists, particularly with regards to devotional rituals to venerate ancestors and community.
Berry describes how Thay’s commitment to honoring ancestors within a Buddhist practice of deep listening was formative as Berry participated in rituals during meditation practice. “I’ve always felt a deep sense of spiritual urgency to engage the ancestral realm,” Berry says. “There was a flavor of sorrow and of strength that I felt within me growing up, and it felt like it ran through my family across generations. My Grandfather called himself the ‘KinKeeper,’ one who gathers the family in all manner of ways. That’s me now, only I gather the ancestors. I gather by deep looking and listening. I learned this from Thay’s teachings.”
Berry uplifts these ancestral practices within Buddhism as foundational for healing intergenerational trauma in the African diaspora, in lineages of families torn apart by the Transatlantic Slave Trade, the auction block, and the Great Migration. Indeed, Buddhism provides teachings and practices that facilitate turning towards suffering and learning how to stay present with the trauma that has arisen from fractured families, secrets, and lack of connection and information.
For Berry, the practices taught by Thay, which emerged from the context of being exiled from Vietnam during the war, are relevant—indeed vital—in a U.S. context. People of African descent still suffer the intergenerational trauma of slavery, Southern and Northern segregation, mass migration, persistent poverty, and mass incarceration in the present day.
The particular suffering of Black people has fueled the desire for dharma teachers such as Berry to make Buddhism relevant to Black communities. Uplifting the celebration of ancestors is central to this work. Berry’s own process of making Thay’s teachings known to Black people has evolved from his own journeys to Southern plantations in Virginia and the Deep South. Berry speaks of how his commitment to ancestral practices grew during a retreat with Thay, in particular during a “Touching the Earth” ceremony. Berry says: “I resonated with bringing in all of these folks that were my family, historical people, including abolitionists, suffragists, and spiritual ancestors.”
For many years, Berry embraced the “Touching the Earth” ceremony as a daily practice. The deep bow that’s central to the ritual felt like “completely giving myself to the ancestors and the earth.” Berry describes this prostration as a heart-opening, humble practice that aligned Buddhism with his African-American heritage in an embodied way.
In addition to embracing “Touching the Earth” as a daily practice, Berry traveled to Virginia, to the land of a friend whose family had owned a plantation, to engage in Tonglen (a practice that means “sending and receiving”),* “Touching the Earth,” and Vipassana (clear seeing). Thereafter, he went to a three-month retreat at Insight Meditation Society (IMS). He told me:
“Knowing that I now had the capacity and depth of practice to center blackness, to center the ancestors while the mind is quieting, the body softening, and the heart opening, and being able to practice directly with all that comes into my purview, was profound. I discovered that I am my own healer. That was a profound shift in my life.”
Berry, who co-founded Deep Time Liberation retreats with Insight teacher Noliwe Alexander, now seeks to make ancestral practices in the tradition of Thay’s Buddhist teachings accessible to other Black people seeking to heal intergenerational trauma. Since 2017, he and Alexander, along with dharma teacher and psychotherapist DaRa Williams and drummer Rosetta Saunders, have offered twice-yearly retreats to people of African descent.
In DTL retreats, the Black body is embraced as a vehicle for liberation. Indeed, these three themes—healing intergenerational trauma, honoring ancestors, and uplifting the Black body as a vehicle for liberation—are consistently uplifted by Black Buddhists in the U.S.. Berry says that he’s cultivated the capacity to be present with every feeling that arises, as a result of his ancestral practices. He states directly:
“My ancestors are with me, to bear witness. I’ve practiced on the grounds of the places my ancestors were enslaved—the source of trauma—and flipped it. Those places are sacred to me. I honor my ancestors’ legacy. The sacred places have become an altar. There isn’t anywhere that I actually feel unsafe in ways I previously had, as I have my ancestors with me always.”
Berry’s experience of honoring ancestors and healing the trauma caused by intergenerational trauma—using the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh—illuminates how the practices of Black Buddhists are indebted to the teachings of Asian Buddhists. And, as Black Buddhists establish retreats and organizations, their distinctive practices are becoming more visible, culturally accessible, and spiritually relevant to Black religious seekers.
###
*Tonglen refers to a practice in which a meditator breathes in the pain and suffering on a specific person and breathes out wishes for happiness, well-being, and health. It is fundamentally about an exchange of energy, in which a meditator intends to take on another’s suffering and subsequently fill them with joy, happiness, and peace.
This article was made possible in part with support from Sacred Writes, a Henry Luce Foundation-funded project hosted by Northeastern University that promotes public scholarship on religion.
https://religiondispatches.org/for-many ... arceration
Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk who joined the ancestors earlier this year, was profoundly influential for Black Buddhists who’ve struggled under the weight of systemic racism and intergenerational trauma. Thay (as he was affectionately known) coined the term “Socially Engaged Buddhism.” Black Buddhists have adopted many of his teachings and applied them to the specific suffering of living in a system of white supremacy.
Insight meditation teacher Devin Berry, co-founder of Deep Time Liberation retreats—which are oriented towards healing Black peoples’ ancestral trauma—reflects on the practice of applying Thay’s teachings to a context in which the legacies of historical slavery are still present. Indeed, while there are many differences between forms of Buddhism in the United States, in many ways the practices of Black Buddhists closely mirror the practices of Asian Buddhists, particularly with regards to devotional rituals to venerate ancestors and community.
Berry describes how Thay’s commitment to honoring ancestors within a Buddhist practice of deep listening was formative as Berry participated in rituals during meditation practice. “I’ve always felt a deep sense of spiritual urgency to engage the ancestral realm,” Berry says. “There was a flavor of sorrow and of strength that I felt within me growing up, and it felt like it ran through my family across generations. My Grandfather called himself the ‘KinKeeper,’ one who gathers the family in all manner of ways. That’s me now, only I gather the ancestors. I gather by deep looking and listening. I learned this from Thay’s teachings.”
Berry uplifts these ancestral practices within Buddhism as foundational for healing intergenerational trauma in the African diaspora, in lineages of families torn apart by the Transatlantic Slave Trade, the auction block, and the Great Migration. Indeed, Buddhism provides teachings and practices that facilitate turning towards suffering and learning how to stay present with the trauma that has arisen from fractured families, secrets, and lack of connection and information.
For Berry, the practices taught by Thay, which emerged from the context of being exiled from Vietnam during the war, are relevant—indeed vital—in a U.S. context. People of African descent still suffer the intergenerational trauma of slavery, Southern and Northern segregation, mass migration, persistent poverty, and mass incarceration in the present day.
The particular suffering of Black people has fueled the desire for dharma teachers such as Berry to make Buddhism relevant to Black communities. Uplifting the celebration of ancestors is central to this work. Berry’s own process of making Thay’s teachings known to Black people has evolved from his own journeys to Southern plantations in Virginia and the Deep South. Berry speaks of how his commitment to ancestral practices grew during a retreat with Thay, in particular during a “Touching the Earth” ceremony. Berry says: “I resonated with bringing in all of these folks that were my family, historical people, including abolitionists, suffragists, and spiritual ancestors.”
For many years, Berry embraced the “Touching the Earth” ceremony as a daily practice. The deep bow that’s central to the ritual felt like “completely giving myself to the ancestors and the earth.” Berry describes this prostration as a heart-opening, humble practice that aligned Buddhism with his African-American heritage in an embodied way.
In addition to embracing “Touching the Earth” as a daily practice, Berry traveled to Virginia, to the land of a friend whose family had owned a plantation, to engage in Tonglen (a practice that means “sending and receiving”),* “Touching the Earth,” and Vipassana (clear seeing). Thereafter, he went to a three-month retreat at Insight Meditation Society (IMS). He told me:
“Knowing that I now had the capacity and depth of practice to center blackness, to center the ancestors while the mind is quieting, the body softening, and the heart opening, and being able to practice directly with all that comes into my purview, was profound. I discovered that I am my own healer. That was a profound shift in my life.”
Berry, who co-founded Deep Time Liberation retreats with Insight teacher Noliwe Alexander, now seeks to make ancestral practices in the tradition of Thay’s Buddhist teachings accessible to other Black people seeking to heal intergenerational trauma. Since 2017, he and Alexander, along with dharma teacher and psychotherapist DaRa Williams and drummer Rosetta Saunders, have offered twice-yearly retreats to people of African descent.
In DTL retreats, the Black body is embraced as a vehicle for liberation. Indeed, these three themes—healing intergenerational trauma, honoring ancestors, and uplifting the Black body as a vehicle for liberation—are consistently uplifted by Black Buddhists in the U.S.. Berry says that he’s cultivated the capacity to be present with every feeling that arises, as a result of his ancestral practices. He states directly:
“My ancestors are with me, to bear witness. I’ve practiced on the grounds of the places my ancestors were enslaved—the source of trauma—and flipped it. Those places are sacred to me. I honor my ancestors’ legacy. The sacred places have become an altar. There isn’t anywhere that I actually feel unsafe in ways I previously had, as I have my ancestors with me always.”
Berry’s experience of honoring ancestors and healing the trauma caused by intergenerational trauma—using the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh—illuminates how the practices of Black Buddhists are indebted to the teachings of Asian Buddhists. And, as Black Buddhists establish retreats and organizations, their distinctive practices are becoming more visible, culturally accessible, and spiritually relevant to Black religious seekers.
###
*Tonglen refers to a practice in which a meditator breathes in the pain and suffering on a specific person and breathes out wishes for happiness, well-being, and health. It is fundamentally about an exchange of energy, in which a meditator intends to take on another’s suffering and subsequently fill them with joy, happiness, and peace.
This article was made possible in part with support from Sacred Writes, a Henry Luce Foundation-funded project hosted by Northeastern University that promotes public scholarship on religion.
https://religiondispatches.org/for-many ... arceration
Re: BUDHISM
Dalai Lama apologises for asking boy to suck his tongue
AFP Published April 10, 2023 Updated about 11 hours ago
The Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama apologized on Monday after a video which showed him asking a boy to suck his tongue triggered a backlash on social media.
The video, which has gone viral on social media, shows the Dalai Lama, 87, planting a kiss on the boy’s lips as he leaned in to pay his respects.
The Buddhist monk is then seen sticking his tongue out as he asked the child to suck it. “Can you suck my tongue,” he is heard asking the young boy in the video.
The video is from an event in McLeod Ganj, a suburb of Dharamshala city in northern India, on February 28.
“His Holiness wishes to apologize to the boy and his family, as well as his many friends across the world, for the hurt his words may have caused,” said a statement posted on his verified Twitter account.
“His Holiness often teases the people he meets in an innocent and playful way, even in public and before cameras,” it added. “He regrets the incident.”
Twitter users slammed the video, calling it “disgusting” and “absolutely sick” after it started trending on Sunday.
“Utterly shocked to see this display by the DalaiLama. In the past too, he’s had to apologize for his sexist comments. But saying — Now suck my tongue to a small boy is disgusting,” wrote user Sangita.
Another poster, Rakhi Tripathi, said: “What did I just see? What that child must be feeling? Disgusting.”
The Dalai Lama remains the universally recognized face of the movement for Tibetan autonomy.
But the global spotlight he enjoyed after winning the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize has dimmed and the deluge of invitations to hobnob with world leaders and Hollywood stars has slowed, partly because the ageing leader has cut back on his punishing travel schedule, but also due to China’s growing economic and political clout.
Beijing accuses him of wanting to split China, and has referred to him as a “wolf in a monk’s robe”.
In 2019, the Dalai Lama apologized for saying that if his successor were to be a woman, she would have to be “attractive”. The comments, which were criticized around the world, were made in an interview with the BBC.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1746936/dalai ... his-tongue
AFP Published April 10, 2023 Updated about 11 hours ago
The Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama apologized on Monday after a video which showed him asking a boy to suck his tongue triggered a backlash on social media.
The video, which has gone viral on social media, shows the Dalai Lama, 87, planting a kiss on the boy’s lips as he leaned in to pay his respects.
The Buddhist monk is then seen sticking his tongue out as he asked the child to suck it. “Can you suck my tongue,” he is heard asking the young boy in the video.
The video is from an event in McLeod Ganj, a suburb of Dharamshala city in northern India, on February 28.
“His Holiness wishes to apologize to the boy and his family, as well as his many friends across the world, for the hurt his words may have caused,” said a statement posted on his verified Twitter account.
“His Holiness often teases the people he meets in an innocent and playful way, even in public and before cameras,” it added. “He regrets the incident.”
Twitter users slammed the video, calling it “disgusting” and “absolutely sick” after it started trending on Sunday.
“Utterly shocked to see this display by the DalaiLama. In the past too, he’s had to apologize for his sexist comments. But saying — Now suck my tongue to a small boy is disgusting,” wrote user Sangita.
Another poster, Rakhi Tripathi, said: “What did I just see? What that child must be feeling? Disgusting.”
The Dalai Lama remains the universally recognized face of the movement for Tibetan autonomy.
But the global spotlight he enjoyed after winning the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize has dimmed and the deluge of invitations to hobnob with world leaders and Hollywood stars has slowed, partly because the ageing leader has cut back on his punishing travel schedule, but also due to China’s growing economic and political clout.
Beijing accuses him of wanting to split China, and has referred to him as a “wolf in a monk’s robe”.
In 2019, the Dalai Lama apologized for saying that if his successor were to be a woman, she would have to be “attractive”. The comments, which were criticized around the world, were made in an interview with the BBC.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1746936/dalai ... his-tongue
The 8-Year-Old Boy at the Heart of a Fight Over Tibetan Buddhism
He may have to defend the faith in Mongolia against pressure from China’s ruling Communist Party.
A young boy has been named to one of the most important positions in Tibetan Buddhism.Credit...Khasar Sandag for The New York Times
By David Pierson
David Pierson went to Mongolia to interview religious leaders, politicians, scholars and family members of a boy identified as the latest incarnation of a Tibetan spiritual leader.
Oct. 4, 2023
The boy had seemed destined for a life of affluence and earthly pursuits. Born into the family behind a major mining conglomerate in Mongolia, he might have been picked to someday lead the company from its steel-and-glass headquarters in the country’s capital.
Instead, the 8-year-old is now at the heart of a struggle between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese Communist Party.
He was just a toddler when everything changed. On a visit to a vast monastery in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, known for a towering Buddha statue gilded in gold, his father brought him and his twin brother into a room where they and seven other boys were given a secret test.
The children were shown a table strewn with religious objects. Some of them refused to leave their parents’ sides. Others were drawn to the colorful candy that had been placed as distractions. This boy, A. Altannar, was different. He picked out a set of prayer beads and put it around his neck. He rang a bell used for meditation. He walked over to a monk in the room and playfully climbed on his legs.
“These were very special signs,” said Bataa Mishigish, a religious scholar who observed the boy with two senior monks. “We just looked at each other and didn’t say a word.”
ImageAn aerial view of a monastery complex, with a cityscape and mountains in the background
The Gandan Monastery complex in Ulaanbaatar, in May.Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
They had found the 10th reincarnation of the Bogd, one of the three most important figures in Tibetan Buddhism and, for many, the spiritual leader of Mongolia, where nearly half the population is Buddhist.
For the next seven years, the monks kept the identity of the Bogd, known formally as the Jebtsundamba Khutughtu, a secret.
Then in March, the Dalai Lama introduced the boy at a ceremony in India in front of throngs of worshipers, his tiny frame engulfed by a maroon deel, the traditional Mongolian gown, with his doe eyes and spiky crew cut peeking out above a white surgical mask.
The news that the 10th Bogd had been chosen was cause for celebration in Mongolia.
The Bogd is a symbol of Mongolia’s identity, a position dating back nearly 400 years to descendants of the Mongol emperor Kublai Khan, who embraced Tibetan Buddhism and helped it spread across China and other conquered lands. In the early 20th century, a Tibetan-born Bogd (pronounced bogged) was the theocratic ruler of Mongolia, revered as a god-king figure. Today, the title adorns banks, cashmere boutiques and auto dealerships. When someone sneezes, Mongolians say “Bogd bless you.”
But who gets to be the Bogd is a sensitive question with implications for Mongolia, China and Tibet. The Chinese Communist Party has sought to assert its authority over Tibetan Buddhism even outside China’s borders, part of a long campaign to tighten its control over Tibet.
China regards the 88-year-old Dalai Lama — who fled Tibet as a young man in 1959 and has been living in exile in India ever since — as an enemy determined to free Tibet from Chinese rule. Though officially atheist, the party has asserted that only it can name his reincarnation, and those of other high lamas.
Video
In March, the Dalai Lama, the foremost Tibetan Buddhist leader, introduced the boy as the Bogd at a ceremony in India in front of throngs of worshipers.CreditCredit...Tenzin Choejor/The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama
After the last Bogd died in 2012, there was concern that China would try to choose or influence the selection of the next one. In 1995, China kidnapped a boy the Dalai Lama had named as the Panchen Lama, the second-most-recognizable figure in Tibetan Buddhism.
So when the Dalai Lama appeared with A. Altannar in public this year, it was a defiant assertion of his influence over the faith and a challenge to Beijing’s claims over succession. And it put Mongolia on the spot, straining its delicate relationship with China, its much bigger and richer neighbor.
//More on China
//Missing Uyghur Scholar: Rahile Dawut, an ethnographer who recorded the traditions of her people in far-western China, disappeared in 2017. New information indicates that she is facing life in prison on charges of endangering national security.
//China’s Industrial Heartland: The central government is hoping to squeeze more productivity and efficiency out of factories in the country’s industrial northeast. But many economists doubt that the approach it wants to deploy will work.
//Risk From Shadow Banks: A giant financial firm has stopped paying investors, creating fears of a collapse in the latest ripple effect from China’s property crisis.
//One-Man Rule: For decades, China built guardrails to prevent another Mao. Here’s how Xi Jinping has dismantled them and created his own machinery of power.
Then there is the question of whether the tradition of anointing children as lama reincarnates makes sense and still has a place in modern Mongolia. Some have also complained that elite families like the boy’s enjoy too many privileges.
Meanwhile, his American-educated parents are coming to grips with giving up their hopes and dreams, for their son to serve a religious calling they did not choose.
The boy, a third-grader with a fondness for TikTok and video games, now faces decades of theological training, a lifetime of celibacy, and the grave responsibility of having to defend Mongolian Buddhism against Chinese pressure. And, in some ways, so does his twin brother.
To obscure A. Altannar’s identity and protect him from overzealous worshipers or worse, the twins, Achildai Altannar and Agudai Altannar, who are identical, are rarely seen in public without each other. In fact, neither the Dalai Lama nor the parents have publicly said which boy was introduced at the ceremony.
Image
Four boys suited in school uniforms thumb through the pages of workbooks in a library.
The boy, third from left, and his classmates looking through books at a school in Ulaanbaatar, in September. The New York Times gained permission from A. Altannar’s mother to photograph him.Credit...Khasar Sandag for The New York Times
“We want our son to grow up in a normal environment, not under pressure, not under scrutiny of heavy teachings,” said Munkhnasan Narmandakh, 41, the boy’s mother. “If he wants to play video games, he should.”
Hope of a Faith’s Revival
When Mr. Bataa, the religious scholar, and the leaders of Gandan Monastery in Ulaanbaatar set out on the search for the next Bogd, they were flummoxed. The process of finding a reincarnation had almost been lost to time. They had to dust off old religious texts from the National Archives and consult with experts in the Dalai Lama’s office in Dharamsala, India.
The team pulled 80,000 names from the list of boys born in Ulaanbaatar in 2014 and 2015, the years after the last Bogd died. They followed an ancient custom of parsing mystical visions and astrology to winnow the selection down to 11 to take the secret test — though the families of only nine boys responded.
That afternoon, the objects that A. Altannar picked up — the necklace and the bell — had belonged to the Ninth Bogd. The monk he climbed on was the Ninth Bogd’s assistant.
Image
One man in a dress shirt and slacks greets another man wearing Buddhist robes inside an ornately decorated temple.
Mishigish Bataa, a religious scholar who observed A. Altannar with two senior Gandan monks when he was selected.Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
In many ways, the challenges with the search underscored the weakened state of Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia.
It had been nearly 300 years since the title of Bogd belonged to a Mongolian. After the Mongols submitted to the Chinese Qing Empire in the late 17th century, the emperor ruled that all future reincarnations of the Bogd were to be found in Tibet, to prevent a Mongol uprising.
Mongolians had long thought that the Bogd line had ended with the Eighth, a Tibetan-born lama who was revered for declaring independence from the Qing in 1911 and who died in 1924. When the Stalin era began shortly after, Communist rulers in Mongolia declared an end to the Bogd lineage. Through 70 years of socialist rule, officials suppressed the religion, killed senior lamas and monks, and razed temples.
After Mongolia’s democratic revolution in 1990, many in Mongolia were astonished when the Dalai Lama revealed that in 1936, a 4-year-old boy in Tibet had been secretly named the Ninth Bogd. He and the Dalai Lama had been friends, both fled China in 1959, and he had been living in India in obscurity.
Image
The statue of a giant golden Buddha.
A towering Buddha statue gilded in gold at the Gandan Monastery complex.Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
Over the years, with the Dalai Lama’s encouragement, Buddhism re-established itself in Mongolia. Old monasteries were restored, and practitioners came out from the shadows. And the Ninth Bogd relocated there in 2011.
When he died one year later at 79, his will called for his reincarnation to be Mongolian, rather than Tibetan. The request would bind the lama closer to the people he was meant to lead.
The Shadow of Elitism
Before A. Altannar was identified as Mongolia’s spiritual leader, he was born into Mongolian business royalty.
His grandmother, Garamjav Tseden, is the founder of one of the country’s most successful private companies, Monpolymet, which started in gold mining and has since expanded into making cement. His mother, the company’s chief executive officer, once served as a judge on Mongolia’s version of “Shark Tank,” the business-oriented reality TV show.
But the family’s success and Ms. Garamjav’s former role as a member of Parliament and a patron of the previous Bogd have raised questions about privilege and elitism seeping into the process of finding a Bogd. Some, including Khulan Tsoodolyn, a prominent poet, criticized A. Altannar’s selection as an example of the elite’s monopoly on power and prestige. (She was arrested in January on unspecified espionage charges and sentenced in July to nine years in prison.)
Image
A woman in a suit stands in front of a stately parliamentary building.
Unurtsetseg Naran, a Mongolian journalist and critic of the family of the 10th Bogd, wondered in a Facebook post why a child of privilege was selected for the role.Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
Shortly after A. Altannar was introduced by the Dalai Lama, Unurtsetseg Naran, an independent journalist, wrote on Facebook: “Why was a rich child selected?”
The boy’s parents say Ms. Naran’s posts have fueled threats online against their family. And they reject any suggestion that they bought their son’s position.
Wealth is a sensitive topic in Mongolia, where the chasm between rich and poor remains wide. Nowhere is that more stark than in Ulaanbaatar, where a quarter of the city’s residents live in poverty — often in ramshackle districts of nomadic tents on the city’s outskirts, far from the luxury malls and hotels that stand as monuments to the nation’s mining booms.
Historically, Tibetan lamas have often come from nobility. Some observers say young lamas from wealthy families benefit from being able to have a better education — and that their affluence is a potential sign of a past life that was righteous.
Image
A small crowd of people crosses a busy street near a university building.
The National University of Mongolia in Ulaanbaatar, where A. Altannar’s father works as a mathematician.Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
But there have always been complaints that the selections of lamas have been about politics and sometimes corruption.
In the late 18th century, Emperor Qianlong of China tried to address this by drawing lots from a golden urn to select lamas. The Chinese Communist Party resurrected the “Golden Urn” system in its bid to control the selection of Buddhist lamas and limit the Dalai Lama’s influence, though few outside the country consider it legitimate.
‘Seismic Shift’ in Power Center
The naming of a Mongolian lama reincarnate ensures Mongolia will be drawn deeper into the political chess match between China and the Dalai Lama.
Mongolia relies on China to buy its exports and invest in its infrastructure. China’s imprint is on display in Ulaanbaatar, in a snaking four-lane overpass designed to ease the city’s punishing traffic, and a sports arena embossed with a logo that reads: “China Aid For Shared Future.”
For Mongolia, a wrong move in Beijing’s eyes would be costly.
It was in 2016, on a visit to Mongolia, that the Dalai Lama first said at a news conference that the Bogd had been discovered in the country — a bombshell announcement. China’s response was swift: It closed border crossings between the two countries, imposed tariffs and canceled bilateral talks.
The Dalai Lama has not visited Mongolia again since.
Video
The intersection overpass that was built with Chinese investment in Ulaanbaatar.CreditCredit...Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
He now has a means to lay down a marker in Mongolia and expand the reach of his office, said Munkhnaran Bayarlkhagva, an analyst who used to work at the National Security Council of Mongolia. The selection of a Mongolian for the role was a “seismic shift in the center of power for Tibetan Buddhism” from Dharamsala to Ulaanbaatar, he said.
There are potential ramifications for the United States government, too. A. Altannar was born in Washington, D.C., making him an American citizen. That has fueled speculation that he was chosen because his U.S. citizenship could afford him some added protection from China.
China has not commented publicly about A. Altannar’s selection, but Mongolian and foreign officials speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter say Beijing has warned Mongolia of consequences if the Bogd grows too close to the Dalai Lama.
Image
A person walks along a fence that surrounds a towering sports arena in the distance.
A sports arena in Ulaanbaatar built with Chinese investment.Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
Telo Tulku Rinpoche, the Dalai Lama’s representative in Mongolia, accused China of wanting to “control Buddhism on a global level.” He denied that A. Altannar was selected for political reasons and said the Dalai Lama’s office would have little contact with the boy.
“This is a spiritual matter,” he said.
A Child’s Life
The phone call to the boy’s family with the news of his selection came from none other than Mongolia’s then-president, Tsakhia Elbegdorj, a sign of the national significance of the position.
But Ms. Munkhnasan, A. Altannar’s mother, said her immediate response was a flat-out rejection of the idea. The parents had hoped that their boys would one day study engineering and take over the family business empire.
“We said, ‘This can’t happen,’” Ms. Munkhnasan said. “My kid was still a baby at the time, and there was no sort of pre-warning or any communication about what was about to unfold.”
Ms. Munkhnasan and her husband, Altannar Chinchuluun, wrote to the United Nations Children’s Fund, or UNICEF, appealing for help. The reincarnation process, they argued, had robbed their son of his rights.
The family rushed to Ulaanbaatar after the call with the president and demanded the monks find another boy. The monks said they would try, but the Dalai Lama said no.
Image
A boy in a long burgundy robe wields sticks to make a mandala out of sand, as two monks observe him.
A. Altannar practicing a sand mandala ritual with monks in September.Credit...Khasar Sandag for The New York Times
Instead, he recommended giving the family time to think in the hopes they would change their minds. In the meantime, the monks promised not to reveal the boy’s name.
Still, the couple agonized over their predicament.
Mr. Altannar, 43, a mathematician at the National University of Mongolia, worried he was turning his back on his country by refusing to restore a proud Mongolian institution. Ms. Munkhnasan feared she would invite bad karma on her family if she denied Tibetan Buddhists a sacred leader.
Eventually, the two decided they would try to strike a balance. The monks could instruct the boy if he also continued with his regular education. Most important, they insisted that it would have to be up to their son when he turns 18 whether he wanted to remain the Bogd.
“It’s his decision,” Ms. Munkhnasan said.
Image
A teacher walks an aisle in a yellow-walled classroom full of uniformed third-graders.
A. Altannar in his third-grade class in September. He will continue his regular studies alongside his Bogd education.Credit...Khasar Sandag for The New York Times
Until then, A. Altannar must adhere to a childhood like no other.
And it is not just his own life that has changed; it’s his brother’s, too. The twins dress identically and receive the same religious training as if both were the Bogd.
Ms. Munkhnasan said she didn’t want to “sacrifice” one child for the other — having one twin live in the shadow of his brother. But she said the family would have to make do until they are more confident about A. Altannar’s safety.
The boy seems to be traversing his two worlds with growing ease. When he visited Dharamsala for his introduction by the Dalai Lama, he sat still for hours listening to his teachings.
On a recent weekday, he was attentive at school and playful with his classmates, flashing a wide smile as he ran a relay race for gym class. Later, he donned his traditional Mongolian deel to receive his regular religious instruction at the Gandan monastery. In the presence of the monks, his boyish energy was replaced by an aura of calm and maturity as he read sutras and practiced rituals.
“Of course, as a boy, he doesn’t understand everything that’s going on, but he’s definitely not rejecting it,” Ms. Munkhnasan said. “He’s very comfortable.”
“It’s like his second nature to him.”
Khaliun Bayartsogt contributed reporting from Ulaanbaatar, and Olivia Wang from Hong Kong.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/04/worl ... -bogd.html
A young boy has been named to one of the most important positions in Tibetan Buddhism.Credit...Khasar Sandag for The New York Times
By David Pierson
David Pierson went to Mongolia to interview religious leaders, politicians, scholars and family members of a boy identified as the latest incarnation of a Tibetan spiritual leader.
Oct. 4, 2023
The boy had seemed destined for a life of affluence and earthly pursuits. Born into the family behind a major mining conglomerate in Mongolia, he might have been picked to someday lead the company from its steel-and-glass headquarters in the country’s capital.
Instead, the 8-year-old is now at the heart of a struggle between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese Communist Party.
He was just a toddler when everything changed. On a visit to a vast monastery in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, known for a towering Buddha statue gilded in gold, his father brought him and his twin brother into a room where they and seven other boys were given a secret test.
The children were shown a table strewn with religious objects. Some of them refused to leave their parents’ sides. Others were drawn to the colorful candy that had been placed as distractions. This boy, A. Altannar, was different. He picked out a set of prayer beads and put it around his neck. He rang a bell used for meditation. He walked over to a monk in the room and playfully climbed on his legs.
“These were very special signs,” said Bataa Mishigish, a religious scholar who observed the boy with two senior monks. “We just looked at each other and didn’t say a word.”
ImageAn aerial view of a monastery complex, with a cityscape and mountains in the background
The Gandan Monastery complex in Ulaanbaatar, in May.Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
They had found the 10th reincarnation of the Bogd, one of the three most important figures in Tibetan Buddhism and, for many, the spiritual leader of Mongolia, where nearly half the population is Buddhist.
For the next seven years, the monks kept the identity of the Bogd, known formally as the Jebtsundamba Khutughtu, a secret.
Then in March, the Dalai Lama introduced the boy at a ceremony in India in front of throngs of worshipers, his tiny frame engulfed by a maroon deel, the traditional Mongolian gown, with his doe eyes and spiky crew cut peeking out above a white surgical mask.
The news that the 10th Bogd had been chosen was cause for celebration in Mongolia.
The Bogd is a symbol of Mongolia’s identity, a position dating back nearly 400 years to descendants of the Mongol emperor Kublai Khan, who embraced Tibetan Buddhism and helped it spread across China and other conquered lands. In the early 20th century, a Tibetan-born Bogd (pronounced bogged) was the theocratic ruler of Mongolia, revered as a god-king figure. Today, the title adorns banks, cashmere boutiques and auto dealerships. When someone sneezes, Mongolians say “Bogd bless you.”
But who gets to be the Bogd is a sensitive question with implications for Mongolia, China and Tibet. The Chinese Communist Party has sought to assert its authority over Tibetan Buddhism even outside China’s borders, part of a long campaign to tighten its control over Tibet.
China regards the 88-year-old Dalai Lama — who fled Tibet as a young man in 1959 and has been living in exile in India ever since — as an enemy determined to free Tibet from Chinese rule. Though officially atheist, the party has asserted that only it can name his reincarnation, and those of other high lamas.
Video
In March, the Dalai Lama, the foremost Tibetan Buddhist leader, introduced the boy as the Bogd at a ceremony in India in front of throngs of worshipers.CreditCredit...Tenzin Choejor/The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama
After the last Bogd died in 2012, there was concern that China would try to choose or influence the selection of the next one. In 1995, China kidnapped a boy the Dalai Lama had named as the Panchen Lama, the second-most-recognizable figure in Tibetan Buddhism.
So when the Dalai Lama appeared with A. Altannar in public this year, it was a defiant assertion of his influence over the faith and a challenge to Beijing’s claims over succession. And it put Mongolia on the spot, straining its delicate relationship with China, its much bigger and richer neighbor.
//More on China
//Missing Uyghur Scholar: Rahile Dawut, an ethnographer who recorded the traditions of her people in far-western China, disappeared in 2017. New information indicates that she is facing life in prison on charges of endangering national security.
//China’s Industrial Heartland: The central government is hoping to squeeze more productivity and efficiency out of factories in the country’s industrial northeast. But many economists doubt that the approach it wants to deploy will work.
//Risk From Shadow Banks: A giant financial firm has stopped paying investors, creating fears of a collapse in the latest ripple effect from China’s property crisis.
//One-Man Rule: For decades, China built guardrails to prevent another Mao. Here’s how Xi Jinping has dismantled them and created his own machinery of power.
Then there is the question of whether the tradition of anointing children as lama reincarnates makes sense and still has a place in modern Mongolia. Some have also complained that elite families like the boy’s enjoy too many privileges.
Meanwhile, his American-educated parents are coming to grips with giving up their hopes and dreams, for their son to serve a religious calling they did not choose.
The boy, a third-grader with a fondness for TikTok and video games, now faces decades of theological training, a lifetime of celibacy, and the grave responsibility of having to defend Mongolian Buddhism against Chinese pressure. And, in some ways, so does his twin brother.
To obscure A. Altannar’s identity and protect him from overzealous worshipers or worse, the twins, Achildai Altannar and Agudai Altannar, who are identical, are rarely seen in public without each other. In fact, neither the Dalai Lama nor the parents have publicly said which boy was introduced at the ceremony.
Image
Four boys suited in school uniforms thumb through the pages of workbooks in a library.
The boy, third from left, and his classmates looking through books at a school in Ulaanbaatar, in September. The New York Times gained permission from A. Altannar’s mother to photograph him.Credit...Khasar Sandag for The New York Times
“We want our son to grow up in a normal environment, not under pressure, not under scrutiny of heavy teachings,” said Munkhnasan Narmandakh, 41, the boy’s mother. “If he wants to play video games, he should.”
Hope of a Faith’s Revival
When Mr. Bataa, the religious scholar, and the leaders of Gandan Monastery in Ulaanbaatar set out on the search for the next Bogd, they were flummoxed. The process of finding a reincarnation had almost been lost to time. They had to dust off old religious texts from the National Archives and consult with experts in the Dalai Lama’s office in Dharamsala, India.
The team pulled 80,000 names from the list of boys born in Ulaanbaatar in 2014 and 2015, the years after the last Bogd died. They followed an ancient custom of parsing mystical visions and astrology to winnow the selection down to 11 to take the secret test — though the families of only nine boys responded.
That afternoon, the objects that A. Altannar picked up — the necklace and the bell — had belonged to the Ninth Bogd. The monk he climbed on was the Ninth Bogd’s assistant.
Image
One man in a dress shirt and slacks greets another man wearing Buddhist robes inside an ornately decorated temple.
Mishigish Bataa, a religious scholar who observed A. Altannar with two senior Gandan monks when he was selected.Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
In many ways, the challenges with the search underscored the weakened state of Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia.
It had been nearly 300 years since the title of Bogd belonged to a Mongolian. After the Mongols submitted to the Chinese Qing Empire in the late 17th century, the emperor ruled that all future reincarnations of the Bogd were to be found in Tibet, to prevent a Mongol uprising.
Mongolians had long thought that the Bogd line had ended with the Eighth, a Tibetan-born lama who was revered for declaring independence from the Qing in 1911 and who died in 1924. When the Stalin era began shortly after, Communist rulers in Mongolia declared an end to the Bogd lineage. Through 70 years of socialist rule, officials suppressed the religion, killed senior lamas and monks, and razed temples.
After Mongolia’s democratic revolution in 1990, many in Mongolia were astonished when the Dalai Lama revealed that in 1936, a 4-year-old boy in Tibet had been secretly named the Ninth Bogd. He and the Dalai Lama had been friends, both fled China in 1959, and he had been living in India in obscurity.
Image
The statue of a giant golden Buddha.
A towering Buddha statue gilded in gold at the Gandan Monastery complex.Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
Over the years, with the Dalai Lama’s encouragement, Buddhism re-established itself in Mongolia. Old monasteries were restored, and practitioners came out from the shadows. And the Ninth Bogd relocated there in 2011.
When he died one year later at 79, his will called for his reincarnation to be Mongolian, rather than Tibetan. The request would bind the lama closer to the people he was meant to lead.
The Shadow of Elitism
Before A. Altannar was identified as Mongolia’s spiritual leader, he was born into Mongolian business royalty.
His grandmother, Garamjav Tseden, is the founder of one of the country’s most successful private companies, Monpolymet, which started in gold mining and has since expanded into making cement. His mother, the company’s chief executive officer, once served as a judge on Mongolia’s version of “Shark Tank,” the business-oriented reality TV show.
But the family’s success and Ms. Garamjav’s former role as a member of Parliament and a patron of the previous Bogd have raised questions about privilege and elitism seeping into the process of finding a Bogd. Some, including Khulan Tsoodolyn, a prominent poet, criticized A. Altannar’s selection as an example of the elite’s monopoly on power and prestige. (She was arrested in January on unspecified espionage charges and sentenced in July to nine years in prison.)
Image
A woman in a suit stands in front of a stately parliamentary building.
Unurtsetseg Naran, a Mongolian journalist and critic of the family of the 10th Bogd, wondered in a Facebook post why a child of privilege was selected for the role.Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
Shortly after A. Altannar was introduced by the Dalai Lama, Unurtsetseg Naran, an independent journalist, wrote on Facebook: “Why was a rich child selected?”
The boy’s parents say Ms. Naran’s posts have fueled threats online against their family. And they reject any suggestion that they bought their son’s position.
Wealth is a sensitive topic in Mongolia, where the chasm between rich and poor remains wide. Nowhere is that more stark than in Ulaanbaatar, where a quarter of the city’s residents live in poverty — often in ramshackle districts of nomadic tents on the city’s outskirts, far from the luxury malls and hotels that stand as monuments to the nation’s mining booms.
Historically, Tibetan lamas have often come from nobility. Some observers say young lamas from wealthy families benefit from being able to have a better education — and that their affluence is a potential sign of a past life that was righteous.
Image
A small crowd of people crosses a busy street near a university building.
The National University of Mongolia in Ulaanbaatar, where A. Altannar’s father works as a mathematician.Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
But there have always been complaints that the selections of lamas have been about politics and sometimes corruption.
In the late 18th century, Emperor Qianlong of China tried to address this by drawing lots from a golden urn to select lamas. The Chinese Communist Party resurrected the “Golden Urn” system in its bid to control the selection of Buddhist lamas and limit the Dalai Lama’s influence, though few outside the country consider it legitimate.
‘Seismic Shift’ in Power Center
The naming of a Mongolian lama reincarnate ensures Mongolia will be drawn deeper into the political chess match between China and the Dalai Lama.
Mongolia relies on China to buy its exports and invest in its infrastructure. China’s imprint is on display in Ulaanbaatar, in a snaking four-lane overpass designed to ease the city’s punishing traffic, and a sports arena embossed with a logo that reads: “China Aid For Shared Future.”
For Mongolia, a wrong move in Beijing’s eyes would be costly.
It was in 2016, on a visit to Mongolia, that the Dalai Lama first said at a news conference that the Bogd had been discovered in the country — a bombshell announcement. China’s response was swift: It closed border crossings between the two countries, imposed tariffs and canceled bilateral talks.
The Dalai Lama has not visited Mongolia again since.
Video
The intersection overpass that was built with Chinese investment in Ulaanbaatar.CreditCredit...Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
He now has a means to lay down a marker in Mongolia and expand the reach of his office, said Munkhnaran Bayarlkhagva, an analyst who used to work at the National Security Council of Mongolia. The selection of a Mongolian for the role was a “seismic shift in the center of power for Tibetan Buddhism” from Dharamsala to Ulaanbaatar, he said.
There are potential ramifications for the United States government, too. A. Altannar was born in Washington, D.C., making him an American citizen. That has fueled speculation that he was chosen because his U.S. citizenship could afford him some added protection from China.
China has not commented publicly about A. Altannar’s selection, but Mongolian and foreign officials speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter say Beijing has warned Mongolia of consequences if the Bogd grows too close to the Dalai Lama.
Image
A person walks along a fence that surrounds a towering sports arena in the distance.
A sports arena in Ulaanbaatar built with Chinese investment.Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
Telo Tulku Rinpoche, the Dalai Lama’s representative in Mongolia, accused China of wanting to “control Buddhism on a global level.” He denied that A. Altannar was selected for political reasons and said the Dalai Lama’s office would have little contact with the boy.
“This is a spiritual matter,” he said.
A Child’s Life
The phone call to the boy’s family with the news of his selection came from none other than Mongolia’s then-president, Tsakhia Elbegdorj, a sign of the national significance of the position.
But Ms. Munkhnasan, A. Altannar’s mother, said her immediate response was a flat-out rejection of the idea. The parents had hoped that their boys would one day study engineering and take over the family business empire.
“We said, ‘This can’t happen,’” Ms. Munkhnasan said. “My kid was still a baby at the time, and there was no sort of pre-warning or any communication about what was about to unfold.”
Ms. Munkhnasan and her husband, Altannar Chinchuluun, wrote to the United Nations Children’s Fund, or UNICEF, appealing for help. The reincarnation process, they argued, had robbed their son of his rights.
The family rushed to Ulaanbaatar after the call with the president and demanded the monks find another boy. The monks said they would try, but the Dalai Lama said no.
Image
A boy in a long burgundy robe wields sticks to make a mandala out of sand, as two monks observe him.
A. Altannar practicing a sand mandala ritual with monks in September.Credit...Khasar Sandag for The New York Times
Instead, he recommended giving the family time to think in the hopes they would change their minds. In the meantime, the monks promised not to reveal the boy’s name.
Still, the couple agonized over their predicament.
Mr. Altannar, 43, a mathematician at the National University of Mongolia, worried he was turning his back on his country by refusing to restore a proud Mongolian institution. Ms. Munkhnasan feared she would invite bad karma on her family if she denied Tibetan Buddhists a sacred leader.
Eventually, the two decided they would try to strike a balance. The monks could instruct the boy if he also continued with his regular education. Most important, they insisted that it would have to be up to their son when he turns 18 whether he wanted to remain the Bogd.
“It’s his decision,” Ms. Munkhnasan said.
Image
A teacher walks an aisle in a yellow-walled classroom full of uniformed third-graders.
A. Altannar in his third-grade class in September. He will continue his regular studies alongside his Bogd education.Credit...Khasar Sandag for The New York Times
Until then, A. Altannar must adhere to a childhood like no other.
And it is not just his own life that has changed; it’s his brother’s, too. The twins dress identically and receive the same religious training as if both were the Bogd.
Ms. Munkhnasan said she didn’t want to “sacrifice” one child for the other — having one twin live in the shadow of his brother. But she said the family would have to make do until they are more confident about A. Altannar’s safety.
The boy seems to be traversing his two worlds with growing ease. When he visited Dharamsala for his introduction by the Dalai Lama, he sat still for hours listening to his teachings.
On a recent weekday, he was attentive at school and playful with his classmates, flashing a wide smile as he ran a relay race for gym class. Later, he donned his traditional Mongolian deel to receive his regular religious instruction at the Gandan monastery. In the presence of the monks, his boyish energy was replaced by an aura of calm and maturity as he read sutras and practiced rituals.
“Of course, as a boy, he doesn’t understand everything that’s going on, but he’s definitely not rejecting it,” Ms. Munkhnasan said. “He’s very comfortable.”
“It’s like his second nature to him.”
Khaliun Bayartsogt contributed reporting from Ulaanbaatar, and Olivia Wang from Hong Kong.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/04/worl ... -bogd.html
Here’s What to Know About Tensions Over Tibetan Buddhism
Much centers on the question of who gets to choose the successor of the Dalai Lama when he dies.
Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama. Beijing considers the Dalai Lama a separatist and asserts that only the ruling Communist Party can name his next incarnation.Credit...Jagadeesh Nv/European Pressphoto Agency
Tibetan Buddhism has long been led by the Dalai Lama, the 88-year-old spiritual leader who fled Tibet in 1959 and has been living in exile in India ever since.
Beijing considers the Dalai Lama a separatist and asserts that only the ruling Communist Party — an avowed atheist organization — can name his next incarnation and those of other high lamas.
By seeking to control the religion’s leadership, China hopes it can all but erase the Dalai Lama’s influence in Tibet and any challenges to the party’s rule. As the Dalai Lama has gotten older, tension has mounted over the eventual contest between Tibetans in exile and Beijing over his legitimate reincarnation.
Why is Mongolia involved?
The Dalai Lama commands a large following in Mongolia, where nearly half the population of 3.4 million identifies as Buddhist.
Tibetan Buddhism was introduced to Mongolia more than seven centuries ago. The faith was violently suppressed for over 70 years when Mongolia came under socialist rule in 1924, but Mongolians began re-embracing it following democratic reforms in the 1990s.
The reverence for the Dalai Lama has put the Mongolian government in a difficult position because it relies on China for virtually all its trade. Beijing closed border crossings between the two countries, imposed tariffs and canceled bilateral talks in response to the last time the Dalai Lama visited Mongolia in 2016.
Who is Mongolia’s spiritual leader?
The Bogd is the leader of Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia. Known formally as the Jebtsundamba Khutughtu, the position dates back nearly 400 years to descendants of the Mongol emperor Kublai Khan.
An 8-year-old boy currently represents the 10th incarnation of the Bogd (pronounced bogged). The previous one died in 2012.
While Tibetan Buddhists do not adhere as strictly to hierarchy as other organized religions, like the Roman Catholic Church, the Bogd is considered one of the most important senior positions in Tibetan Buddhism after the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama. The Panchen Lama was a herder’s son who was anointed by the Dalai Lama in 1995, but he was kidnapped by China and replaced with a monk chosen by Beijing.
How are new lamas chosen?
The process is mysterious, at best. Tibetan Buddhist leaders say they follow an ancient custom of parsing mystical visions and astrology to help narrow their search.
Candidates are then tested to see if they show any traits that could be deemed especially holy. In the case of the boy chosen to be the next Bogd, religious officials said he was just a toddler when he underwent a secret test and successfully identified the previous Bogd’s personal artifacts.
Over the centuries, the process has been open to criticism that the selections have been about politics and sometimes corruption. In the late 18th century, Emperor Qianlong of China tried to address this by drawing lots from a golden urn to select lamas. This “golden urn” system has been resurrected by the Chinese Communist Party as Beijing has pushed to control appointments of senior monks, though few outside the country consider it legitimate.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/04/worl ... ainer.html
Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama. Beijing considers the Dalai Lama a separatist and asserts that only the ruling Communist Party can name his next incarnation.Credit...Jagadeesh Nv/European Pressphoto Agency
Tibetan Buddhism has long been led by the Dalai Lama, the 88-year-old spiritual leader who fled Tibet in 1959 and has been living in exile in India ever since.
Beijing considers the Dalai Lama a separatist and asserts that only the ruling Communist Party — an avowed atheist organization — can name his next incarnation and those of other high lamas.
By seeking to control the religion’s leadership, China hopes it can all but erase the Dalai Lama’s influence in Tibet and any challenges to the party’s rule. As the Dalai Lama has gotten older, tension has mounted over the eventual contest between Tibetans in exile and Beijing over his legitimate reincarnation.
Why is Mongolia involved?
The Dalai Lama commands a large following in Mongolia, where nearly half the population of 3.4 million identifies as Buddhist.
Tibetan Buddhism was introduced to Mongolia more than seven centuries ago. The faith was violently suppressed for over 70 years when Mongolia came under socialist rule in 1924, but Mongolians began re-embracing it following democratic reforms in the 1990s.
The reverence for the Dalai Lama has put the Mongolian government in a difficult position because it relies on China for virtually all its trade. Beijing closed border crossings between the two countries, imposed tariffs and canceled bilateral talks in response to the last time the Dalai Lama visited Mongolia in 2016.
Who is Mongolia’s spiritual leader?
The Bogd is the leader of Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia. Known formally as the Jebtsundamba Khutughtu, the position dates back nearly 400 years to descendants of the Mongol emperor Kublai Khan.
An 8-year-old boy currently represents the 10th incarnation of the Bogd (pronounced bogged). The previous one died in 2012.
While Tibetan Buddhists do not adhere as strictly to hierarchy as other organized religions, like the Roman Catholic Church, the Bogd is considered one of the most important senior positions in Tibetan Buddhism after the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama. The Panchen Lama was a herder’s son who was anointed by the Dalai Lama in 1995, but he was kidnapped by China and replaced with a monk chosen by Beijing.
How are new lamas chosen?
The process is mysterious, at best. Tibetan Buddhist leaders say they follow an ancient custom of parsing mystical visions and astrology to help narrow their search.
Candidates are then tested to see if they show any traits that could be deemed especially holy. In the case of the boy chosen to be the next Bogd, religious officials said he was just a toddler when he underwent a secret test and successfully identified the previous Bogd’s personal artifacts.
Over the centuries, the process has been open to criticism that the selections have been about politics and sometimes corruption. In the late 18th century, Emperor Qianlong of China tried to address this by drawing lots from a golden urn to select lamas. This “golden urn” system has been resurrected by the Chinese Communist Party as Beijing has pushed to control appointments of senior monks, though few outside the country consider it legitimate.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/04/worl ... ainer.html
Announcing BuddhaFest Encore: Films, Talks & Music
Hello Karim,
Because of the incredible response to BuddhaFest, there's going to be a two-week encore starting this Tuesday.
The theme of the festival is Celebrating Women in Buddhism.
Join in for an exciting lineup of Buddhist films, wisdom talks, and music — all available to watch 24/7 at your convenience from September 3 - 17.
This festival explores and celebrates the profound contributions of women in Buddhism.
Get your online pass right now. https://www.buddhafestonline.com/?ref=h ... 2F9ymuRV9i
If you already have a 2024 BuddhaFest pass, you'll be able to continue watching throughout the encore.
The festival features:
Nine New Wisdom Talks from Tara Brach, Sharon Salzberg, Roshi Joan Halifax and other women teachers
Encore Talks from Previous BuddhaFests with Joanna Macy, Lama Tsultrim Allione and more
14 Buddhist Films: An Extraordinary Collection of Films Focusing on Women
A Musical Performance with Acclaimed Pianist Maria Joao Pires, Accompanied by a Meditation with Matthieu Ricard
Tibetan Healing Mantras: A Musical Performance with Drukmo Gyal Dakini
Get your online pass here. https://www.buddhafestonline.com/?ref=h ... 2F9ymuRV9i
BuddhaFest features an incredible lineup of films focusing on women, and mostly directed by women, including:
“Women of Tibet: A Quiet Revolution” (Directed by Rosemary Rawcliffe):
For the first time on film, three generations of Tibetan women, along with the 14th Dalai Lama, tell the story of one of the great movements of nonviolent resistance in modern history.
“Meredith Mock: Inner Voice” (Directed by Babeth Mondini VanLoo):
Explore the life and artistry of Meredith Monk, a groundbreaking artist known as a “magician of the voice.” This film delves into her creative process, spiritual practice, and influential works through intimate conversations and archival footage.
“Sense of Urgency” (Directed by Patrick van Boeckel):
An up close and personal look at Zen teacher, activist, anthropologist and author Joan Halifax, who has come to exemplify many of the historic developments in Buddhism in America.
“Dark Red Forest” (Directed by Jin Huaqing):
An intimate look at the unique daily lives of the 20,000 Buddhist nuns living in a remote monastery in Tibet, filmed over a 6-year stretch of over 40 visits.
For the full lineup of 14 films visit the event website here. https://www.buddhafestonline.com/?ref=h ... 2F9ymuRV9i
Don’t miss this unique opportunity to explore and celebrate the profound contributions and wisdom of women in Buddhism through films, talks, and music.
The two-week encore starts Tuesday!
Learn more and register here now. https://www.buddhafestonline.com/?ref=h ... 2F9ymuRV9i
Warmly,
Eric Forbis
Founder, Wisdom for Life
P.S. You'll have access to EVERYTHING this Tuesday through September 17 with your festival pass...
Get your pass here!