reedak
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Following are excerpts from an article headlined Thai Group Says Steve Jobs Reincarnated as Warrior-Philosopher
(Begin excerpts)
KHLONG LUANG, Thailand – When Apple Inc. founder Steve Jobs died after a long fight with cancer last year, software engineer Tony Tseung sent an email to a Buddhist group in Thailand to find out what happened to his old boss now that he's no longer of this world.
This month, Mr. Tseung received his answer. Mr. Jobs has been reincarnated as a celestial warrior-philosopher, the Dhammakaya group said in a special television broadcast, and he's living in a mystical glass palace hovering above his old office at Apple's Cupertino, California headquarters......
Some of Mr. Jobs's admirers in Malaysia later gathered on a tropical island and in a religious ceremony each took a bite from an apple before flinging the fruit into the sea in a bid to speed up his reincarnation.
Now, Phra Chaibul Dhammajayo, abbot at the Dhammakaya Temple here just north of Bangkok, claims Mr. Jobs has already been reborn.
"After Steve Jobs passed away, he was reincarnated as a divine being with a special knowledge and appreciation for science and the arts," the Dhammakaya leader said in the first of a series of sermons beamed to hundreds of thousands of the group's followers around the world.
Phra Chaibul's claims are impossible to corroborate, and his sermons have unleashed significant criticism, including from some skeptics who suspect he is just trying to get attention to help with fundraising. Among other things, he has said the reincarnated Mr. Jobs spends much of his time lounging in a glass palace resembling an Apple store. Phra Chaibul also has said the being formerly known as Steve Jobs is attended by 20 servants, who seem to resemble the Apple store 'Geniuses' who help customers set up their iPhones and other devices here on earth.
Senior monks at the Dhammakaya Temple declined requests for comment......
The spiritual rewards also appear to be worth the effort, at least according to Phra Chaibul. He says that Mr. Jobs now enjoys sleeping on a floating hover-bed, and when he thinks of a piece of music he would like to hear, it automatically plays. If he is hungry, an aide quickly brings him a tasty treat.
"Everything is high-tech, beautiful, and simple, exactly the way he likes it, and he is filled with great excitement and amazement," Phra Chaibul says. In fact, the technology surrounding the reincarnated Mr. Jobs works so seamlessly that he has no reason to "bare his canine teeth" or otherwise exercise the hot temper for which he was known on earth.
What's more, Mr. Jobs was reborn in a younger, more handsome form. Phra Chaibul says he now appears to be around 35 to 40 years old, with a full head of hair. Artist renderings accompanying Phra Chaibul's lectures show a rejuvenated Mr. Jobs living in a photo-shopped, air-brushed utopia where he hangs out with other sprites and revels in the achievements of friends and colleagues he left behind on earth. Phra Paisal, who runs a famous temple in Chaiyaphum province, wonders how Phra Chaibul knows all this. "Did he even know Steve Jobs?" he asked.
Phra Chaibul last week offered a few clues in his latest broadcast. Mr. Jobs, he said, has also lived several past lives – bolstering his chances of progressing to a higher plane by, among other things, planning irrigation systems and designing temples, before finally securing his new incarnation by coming up with the iPhone. (End excerpts)
My comment, using an analogy between reincarnation and queening in chess: "A pawn has been promoted to a queen."
Promotion (chess) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Begin excerpts)
KHLONG LUANG, Thailand – When Apple Inc. founder Steve Jobs died after a long fight with cancer last year, software engineer Tony Tseung sent an email to a Buddhist group in Thailand to find out what happened to his old boss now that he's no longer of this world.
This month, Mr. Tseung received his answer. Mr. Jobs has been reincarnated as a celestial warrior-philosopher, the Dhammakaya group said in a special television broadcast, and he's living in a mystical glass palace hovering above his old office at Apple's Cupertino, California headquarters......
Some of Mr. Jobs's admirers in Malaysia later gathered on a tropical island and in a religious ceremony each took a bite from an apple before flinging the fruit into the sea in a bid to speed up his reincarnation.
Now, Phra Chaibul Dhammajayo, abbot at the Dhammakaya Temple here just north of Bangkok, claims Mr. Jobs has already been reborn.
"After Steve Jobs passed away, he was reincarnated as a divine being with a special knowledge and appreciation for science and the arts," the Dhammakaya leader said in the first of a series of sermons beamed to hundreds of thousands of the group's followers around the world.
Phra Chaibul's claims are impossible to corroborate, and his sermons have unleashed significant criticism, including from some skeptics who suspect he is just trying to get attention to help with fundraising. Among other things, he has said the reincarnated Mr. Jobs spends much of his time lounging in a glass palace resembling an Apple store. Phra Chaibul also has said the being formerly known as Steve Jobs is attended by 20 servants, who seem to resemble the Apple store 'Geniuses' who help customers set up their iPhones and other devices here on earth.
Senior monks at the Dhammakaya Temple declined requests for comment......
The spiritual rewards also appear to be worth the effort, at least according to Phra Chaibul. He says that Mr. Jobs now enjoys sleeping on a floating hover-bed, and when he thinks of a piece of music he would like to hear, it automatically plays. If he is hungry, an aide quickly brings him a tasty treat.
"Everything is high-tech, beautiful, and simple, exactly the way he likes it, and he is filled with great excitement and amazement," Phra Chaibul says. In fact, the technology surrounding the reincarnated Mr. Jobs works so seamlessly that he has no reason to "bare his canine teeth" or otherwise exercise the hot temper for which he was known on earth.
What's more, Mr. Jobs was reborn in a younger, more handsome form. Phra Chaibul says he now appears to be around 35 to 40 years old, with a full head of hair. Artist renderings accompanying Phra Chaibul's lectures show a rejuvenated Mr. Jobs living in a photo-shopped, air-brushed utopia where he hangs out with other sprites and revels in the achievements of friends and colleagues he left behind on earth. Phra Paisal, who runs a famous temple in Chaiyaphum province, wonders how Phra Chaibul knows all this. "Did he even know Steve Jobs?" he asked.
Phra Chaibul last week offered a few clues in his latest broadcast. Mr. Jobs, he said, has also lived several past lives – bolstering his chances of progressing to a higher plane by, among other things, planning irrigation systems and designing temples, before finally securing his new incarnation by coming up with the iPhone. (End excerpts)
My comment, using an analogy between reincarnation and queening in chess: "A pawn has been promoted to a queen."
Promotion (chess) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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