Sadly, this is not from The Onion. Newsweek has the details:
In one of history's more absurd acts of totalitarianism, China has banned Buddhist monks in Tibet from reincarnating without government permission... 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." 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.
Something about this reminds me of the college Poli-Sci lesson about how the king can kill you but the priest can damn you to hell. Basic separation of powers sort of thing. It's worked pretty well on the whole, but it's the height of irony for a Communist regime to try and bring them both under the same rule.
Personally, I say go ahead and reincarnate however you darn well want to!
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