we kind of take lack of state involvement in religion for granted since the american government has historically taken the first...
we kind of take lack of state involvement in religion for granted since the american government has historically taken the first amendment pretty seriously, but once a state does decide to tamper with religion it can do pretty much anything it fucking wants. china’s already declared their intention to appoint the next dalai lama, which given that the next dalai lama will be an infant baby is beyond bonkers
in response the tibetan church (or at least the parts of it under the current dalai lama’s control) are making preparations for the dalai lama to just not be reincarnated. like on his deathbed he can just say ‘see ya suckers, i’m outie’ and then the other monks get to declare the baby a pretender and usurper and the whole administrative structure of tibetan buddhism gets permanently changed