A video of famous actor Zhang Tielin being "ordained" by a Tibetan Living Buddha, or Rinpoche, in an exhibition center in Hong Kong recently went viral on the Internet. It was soon revealed that not only is the so-called Rinpoche actually a fraud, but also that he's been accused of using his fake identity to attract celebrities and other followers and to enrich himself.
Zhang Tielin, 58, an actor famous for playing historical emperors on Chinese television screens, knelt down and performed three deep kowtows, showing his allegiance to the man in front of him.
This is not another episode of a Chinese television drama, but an "ordainment" ceremony in Hong Kong held last month that was attended by around 1,000 people. In a speech at the ceremony, Zhang introduced himself as Baima Tielin, a Tibetan Buddhist name, and said earnestly in his baritone voice, "Before I became a disciple of the Living Buddha, I had a big ego, a great one. I played more than 50 Chinese emperors, and I felt I was greater than heaven."
"But since I met him and became his disciple, I felt the sky and earth became much greater, and the Living Buddha is so great, that I feel dwarfed. My life is now filled with hope," he said.
The master whom Zhang kowtowed to was the self-proclaimed Tulku Baima Aose Rinpoche, a chubby, bareheaded man with a mustache, wearing a pair of wire-rimmed glasses and dressed in a golden and crimson Tibetan robe covered with gaudy embroidery. A Rinpoche, also called a "Living Buddha" in Tibetan Buddhism, is believed to be a reincarnation of a Buddha. After Zhang performed the kowtows, the Living Buddha, sitting on a wooden throne, presented Zhang with a crown-like hat and awarded him the name "Baima Qupei," which means "the spreading of Buddhism."
It was the Rinpoche's 39th birthday, and the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center (HKCEC) was filled with 100 banquet tables, most of which were occupied by the Rinpoche's followers, according to a video that later circulated on the Internet entitled "The ordainment of Zhang Tielin." Guests at the event also included Hong Kong political elites and celebrities.
Despite the pomp and circumstance, even someone unfamiliar with Tibetan Buddhism could sense there was something off about the ceremony. The supposedly religious event wasn't held in a temple, but in a venue for pop concerts and trade fairs. The setting looked more like a business banquet than something spiritual. The most dubious element was Zhang Tielin, whose public image - the actor has been involved in scandals with ex-lovers and illegitimate children - was incongruous with such an ordainment.
The fake Rinpoche
The video of the ceremony went viral after it was uploaded to the Internet in late November. When journalists showed it to Tibetan lamas and authentic Rinpoches, many were amused and said that the Rinpoche to which Zhang had pledged his loyalty is a fake.
Lin Cong, student of the prestigious Khejok Rinpoche, said on Weibo, a microblogging site, that Zhang's prostration was a combination of Indian yoga's sun salutation postures, the genuflection of European royal courts, and prostration in the tradition of Chinese Buddhism. His outfits also weren't correct - he was wearing white and purple robes, colors which shouldn't appear on the same person, Duoshi Rinpoche, a venerable monk, told China Newsweek.
