If you have fame and fortune, what more do you need? It turns out that many are in need of a personal religious counselor.
Zhang Tielin, a movie star from the 1980s who regained his celebrity status from the 1998 runaway television hit Princess Pearl, was recently given "Living Buddha" status in Hong Kong.
The one who granted him this status has since been found to be someone from Fujian province, named Wu Darong, whose claims of being a Living Buddha have been refuted by the Tibetan Buddhist monastery he said had granted him the title.
This piece of news did not surprise anyone.
As the joke goes, there are as many as 300,000 Rinpoches residing in Beijing's Chaoyang district alone and most of them do not speak Tibetan or Tibetan-accented Chinese.
Rather, their accent gives them away as hailing from Northeastern China, or the Tieling area to be specific.
That area has also produced a disproportionate number of comedians.
So, the running gag portrays them as jobless comedians who fail to get into a sitcom or sketch comedy.
The figure 300,000 may be an exaggeration, but having lived in this district for more than a decade, I surmise the stragglers must add up to several thousands, more than the 1,700 Living Buddhas (as of 2007) officially sanctioned in the nation.
Then again, the Tibetan term Rinpoche covers more than the reincarnated. It could refer to the respected, the notable and the learned.
As for the learned, a recent article says that most Rinpoches in the Chinese capital have not browsed a single Buddhist volume and when asked about Buddha's teachings they invariably say that it is beyond the questioner's comprehension.
Whether someone demands respect is, of course, subjective.
A typical Rinpoche reminds me of Moliere's theatrical creation Tartuffe, whose religious devotion earned him the "respect" of Orgon and his family. Orgon not only gave him shelter but also signed over his property and offered him his daughter's hand in marriage.
I realize it is vulgar of me to say this. But for someone intent on saving his soul, a house and a daughter could mean less than the religious guidance of an authority figure.
Just as Tartuffe sparked protest from the French religious establishment of the time, talk (or ridicule) of all those fake Rinpoches carries a whiff of disrespect.
The code of political correctness stipulates that we respect others' choices of religion, and, by extension, the religious chaperons in their lives.
