October 4, 2023

"He was just a toddler when... his father brought him and his twin brother into a room where they and seven other boys were given a secret test...."

"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, ... 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.' They had found the 10th reincarnation of the Bogd... the spiritual leader of Mongolia... 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.... When someone sneezes, Mongolians say 'Bogd bless you.'..."

From "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" (NYT).

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.... 

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.... 

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.... But Ms. Munkhnasan, A. Altannar’s mother, said her immediate response was a flat-out rejection....

“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.... 

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.....

What would you do? Suddenly the highest authorities in your country are exalting your little child and saying that all along he's been this other person, an eminent person much older than you, and they're ready to sweep him into the life where, to them, he properly belongs. You think you have a right to your child and your child has a right to his life as a child, with his family, in his familiar surroundings. But it's your religion too. You believe in the system, the one in which somebody's child is Bogd. 

37 comments:

rehajm said...

In the movies about the Dalai Lama the kid gets to choose. Looks like that’s not the case here.

…and at least the people forcibly removing the child from the parents aren’t doing it because they want to fuck the kid…

re Pete said...

"All the pigeons gonna run to him"

Old and slow said...

This might be a good time to rethink your belief in this system.

The Crack Emcee said...

"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.... "

As I noted a few days ago, in another context, Jim Jones also did this to a child. It didn't turn out so well. There's also this. And who could forget this?


The Dalai Lama and his religion are pretty tyrannical when you understand them.

tim maguire said...

If I'm Buddhist, then there's no dilemma. This child won't merely be raised to be the next Bogd, this child IS the Bogd, of which there is only one. He is not robbed of his childhood, he is reassuming his place, which he temporarily vacated by dying.

If I'm not Buddhist, then I ignore it. Flee the country if necessary, but hopefully that won't be necessary.

tim maguire said...

The Crack Emcee said...The Dalai Lama and his religion are pretty tyrannical when you understand them.

That's the funny thing about religion--it's pretty tyrannical if it's not real. If it is real, then it's nothing of the sort.

This boy is only being forcibly removed from his family and thrust into an ascetic life against his will if Buddhism is bunk. If it's real, then this boy IS the Bogd, this boy CHOSE to be reborn into this family, AND he chose to reveal himself in this test so that he may step back into his rightful place at the head of Mongolian Buddhism. His family is wrong and is committing a grievous sin, causing harm to untold millions, by trying to stop the process.

Quaestor said...

At least the selection isn't bogd down in red tape.

Jamie said...

Reincarnation had robbed him of his rights. What can you do with that? I mean, if there is - or if there were, to use a perhaps more appropriate mood in English - reincarnation, does the family think UNICEF has dominion over it?

I am so very grateful to have been born where I was born. Almost always, I'm also grateful to have been born when I was born.

gspencer said...

"This boy, A. Altannar, ... 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 . . ."

If that sort of behavior predicts great things, Giuliani's kid will be president any time now since he over 35,

https://www.thewrap.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Rudy-Giuliani-Andrew-Chris-Farley-SNL.jpg

Enigma said...

One of the funniest documentary interviews I've seen was when a white westerner visited a former headhunter tribe. For a very long time they'd killed their neighbors.

"Why did you stop killing?"

"Christian missionaries taught us to love our neighbors. We go to church now."

"Oh, really?!?!"


There are quite logical reasons why the monotheistic religions (i.e., Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) came to dominate religion worldwide. They often provide a functional way for adapting, and for integrating with other cultures--they've proven popular in Korea, Japan, and China too. These religions sometimes go off the rails or get stuck in tradition, but the alternatives aren't great either.

I'd not at all be surprised by a resurgence of intellectual and cultural colonialism over the next few centuries. The odds are it'll be a Christian or Islamic variant, or both.

boatbuilder said...

"Bogd bless you!"

Heh.

There's a dyslexia joke in there somewhere.

WK said...

They called UNICEF and they didn’t get helped? Huh.
Does UNICEF still do those money collection boxes at Halloween? At the time I thought it was odd to use a pagan holiday as a means to raise funds for your children’s relief organization. But it is a bit clearer now.

Gahrie said...

The Christian god did something similar to Jesus.

285exp said...

Seems like Eddie Murphy already made this movie.

rhhardin said...

Reincarnation runs into child abuse, the latter having been discovered as a public problem (rather than a personal moral failing) in the 60s and then broadened to cover everything.

Gahrie said...

I am so very grateful to have been born where I was born. Almost always, I'm also grateful to have been born when I was born.

At least once a week I remind my students that they are among the luckiest humans who have ever lived because they live in the United States in the 21st century, and that they should be more grateful about that.

Gahrie said...

Reincarnation had robbed him of his rights.

Jesus did not choose to be the Messiah.

Temujin said...

Sounds like a ready made movie script.
Waiting for Dreamworks to purchase the rights to his story.
Waiting for the reincarnation of David Lean to direct it.

Temujin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Big Mike said...

A devout Buddhist could even argue that the mother was blessed with twins so that when the Bogd takes on his holy role she will still have a son to take care of her.

Coop said...

Enigma said:

“I'd not at all be surprised by a resurgence of intellectual and cultural colonialism over the next few centuries. The odds are it'll be a Christian or Islamic variant, or both.”

Time to consult the Orange Catholic Bible. Frank Herbert detailed the fusion of religions and it’s universal implications in excruciating detail throughout the entire Dune series.

We can only wait for our own Duncan Idaho to right all wrongs

The Crack Emcee said...

Gahrie said...
I am so very grateful to have been born where I was born. Almost always, I'm also grateful to have been born when I was born.

At least once a week I remind my students that they are among the luckiest humans who have ever lived because they live in the United States in the 21st century, and that they should be more grateful about that.

Then why is my experience of being in some updated version of Medieval Europe, while everyone else is discussing the similarities to the movie, Idiocracy? I know: Because I was a kid raised to believe in a future of monorails and flying cars, with the assumption that was going to take some intelligence, and not just a bunch of idiot cultists dropping acid in order to impress a Kardashian.

Bob Boyd said...

Made me think of when the authorities tell parents that their observations have determined their child is trans and now the parents don't have any rights to protect the child from the authorities who will proceed transform him or her into a living talisman to further their own power in accordance with their belief system.

Anthony said...

You can't expect to wield supreme executive power just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you! seems applicable here.

JAORE said...

"You ... have a right to your child and your child has a right to his life as a child, with his family, in his familiar surroundings."

Since MY culture is equal with all others*, the above is the final answer, no?

* So I have been told.

gahrie said...

Then why is my experience of being in some updated version of Medieval Europe,

Because you spend all of your time indulging in a pity party about how bad your life has been and how unfair life is instead of celebrating how good your life has been compared to 99% of all humans who have ever lived on this planet.

Jersey Fled said...

Good one, Bob Boyd!

William said...

"Some are born to sweet delight. Some are born to endless night." That's about the worst worst childhood imaginable. I feel some sympathy for him. I would feel more sympathy for him if he had not murdered two women. It's possible to be better than the circumstances of your childhood. The article that you linked to on Jean Pierre yesterday is an example. Of course, some here would argue that being an apologist for Biden is worse than being a murderer. Such an argument has its merits, but I think it's fair to say that Jean-Pierre has had some success in life and has overcome some childhood obstacles. If it's possible for some people to be better than their backgrounds would predict, why is it not also possible to be worse. Zach had a god-awful life but perhaps he has become even worse than the circumstances surrounding his childhood, a negative transcendence. I don't know the circumstances surrounding his murders (and don't want to know), but I imagine that they're as ghastly as anything that happened to him in his childhood....I feel ambivalent about capital punishment in his case, but I would guess that Zach considers existence a heavy burden and early death will not be the worst event of his life.

Left Bank of the Charles said...

If they are identical twins and one is Bogd and one is not Bogd, that could lead to some interesting hijinks.

Narr said...

"So, why can't you be more like your brother?"

Free Manure While You Wait! said...

"This boy, A. Altannar, ... 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."

I took all that to mean the kid is transgendered. Or at the very least, gay. Of course, all interpretation is subjective.

Free Manure While You Wait! said...

"Jesus did not choose to be the Messiah."

Actually, he did.

1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

- Matthew 4: 1-11 (KJV)

Free Manure While You Wait! said...

"Then why is my experience of being in some updated version of Medieval Europe,"

It comes from being in bondage to the slave mentality. Seriously.

Craig Mc said...

This sounds like the Scientology episode of South Park.

Jamie said...

If they are identical twins and one is Bogd and one is not Bogd, that could lead to some interesting hijinks.

And here I thought all the good sitcom ideas had been done!

The Crack Emcee said...

Free Manure While You Wait! said...
"Then why is my experience of being in some updated version of Medieval Europe,"

It comes from being in bondage to the slave mentality. Seriously.

Thanks. I thought it was all the people who believe in astrology.

The Crack Emcee said...

gahrie said...
Then why is my experience of being in some updated version of Medieval Europe,

"Because you spend all of your time indulging in a pity party about how bad your life has been and how unfair life is instead of celebrating how good your life has been compared to 99% of all humans who have ever lived on this planet."

I've never met them and my life sucks because I got you. They didn't, the lucky bastards.