Dalai Lama puts his reincarnation to a vote

The Dalai Lama, Hollywood's favourite spiritual icon, has offered his 14 million Buddhist followers an intriguing referendum: should he forgo reincarnation, or should he be reborn while still alive? With the Chinese occupiers of Tibet looking to hijack the succession process for the next Dalai Lama by 'finding' a pliant candidate for the position, the exiled Tibetan leader is planning to either end a 600-year tradition by shunning rebirth, or else will choose his next incarnation while still alive.

Although he doesn't foresee the need to make a choice quite yet, maintaining that he is in good health and at 72 has "another few decades" in him, the move will anger Chinese authorities, who have tried to cultivate friendly Lamas in the past.

The atheist Communists at the head of the world's most populous state were embarrassed in 1989 when the 10th Panchen Lama, the second-most venerated figure in Tibetan Buddhism, turned on them in a speech soon before he died. The Karmapa Lama, number three in rank of importance, joined the Dalai Lama in exile in India in 1999.

While the six million Buddhists still in Tibet would be unable to vote on the proposition, another eight million followers across Asia - and, no doubt, in Los Angeles - could participate in the metaphysically challenging poll.