Reincarnation and politics in Tibet

The concept of reincarnation, based upon the Buddhist belief in the transmigration of the soul has a special significance among the Tibetan Buddhists. According to this theory of reincarnation, the great mind or the soul, which is reappearing in a new embodiment has already attained Buddhahood or Nivana and has voluntarily decided to come back for the benefit of the other human beings. The departed soul not only decides the place of its rebirth and parentage according to the need of the moment, it can also reincarnate itself into as many different forms as it likes and at as many different places at the same time. The mind, speechand the body of the sould can also be reincarnated separately into three bodies - as used to be the practice among the Mahayana Buddhists of Bhutan. This practice, however, was not so common in Tibet.