China jails revered living Buddha

LONDON - Phurbu Tsering Rinpoche, a revered Tibetan ‘living Buddha’ has been sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in jail by a Chinese court on charges of illegally occupying government land and possessing bullets, according to a report Wednesday.

The court in the western town of Kangding handed down the conviction more than eight months after his trial, The Times reported.

Tsering, a Tulku or reincarnation, was arrested March 28 last year, in the wake of anti-Chinese demonstrations in Tibet.

Nuns from two religious houses presided over by him took to the streets in demonstrations shortly after riots erupted in Lhasa, and police found an imitation pistol and 100 rounds of ammunition from a search of his home.

One relative, who declined to be identified, told The Times: It seems they couldn’t make the charge about a gun stand up so they used the bullets. As for illegally occupying land, this land was given to the living Buddha himself to build an old people’s home so there is no question of it being illegal.

Tsering, 53, was identified as the fifth incarnation of a revered Buddhist teacher, known by the title of Burongma, when he was seven months old.

The Times said judges did not hand out the maximum sentence of 15 years in prison because they may have feared fresh outbreaks of anti-Chinese unrest and because Tsering commands thousands of disciples in Tibet as well as in other areas of China.