There is another “gilded cage” story out of Tibet. This week, many people are talking about a Malaysian princess who fled a seemingly story tale life with a Royal family after alleged torture and abuse. Now, ,Tibetans are dealing with the flight of a man once worshiped as a God. Osel Hita Torres, 23, was selected by monks at five month old as the reincarnation of the recently deceased Lama Yeshe. At 14 months, he was taken from his parents and declared Lama Tenzin Osel Rinpoche. He fled and is now a film student in Spain who has denounced his treatment and stolen childhood. He can now be seen in his fully human glory in baggy pants, long hair, and loving life.
Torres says that he was denied most of what is a normal childhood from sports to girls to movies. He describes how he was only allowed to watch The Golden Child starring Eddie Murphy, about a kidnapped child lama with magical powers.
He called the lifestyle “medieval” and cruel. At six, he lived next to the cabin of actor Richard Gere and was only allowed to play with “other reincarnated souls.” Presumably, Gere was not such a soul, though some critics have been called for his immediate reincarnation.
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