Published by: World Tibet Network News Sunday - September 14, 1997

The Sunday Times - London

September 14 1997

STEVEN SEAGAL, the Hollywood actor known for his violent performances in low-budget kung fu films, has found a role to make him the envy of Tinseltown. A Buddhist monastery has proclaimed that the mumbling martial arts expert is the reincarnation of a revered Tibetan lama.

In a plot that seems implausible even by the standards of his own thrillers, sources close to Seagal confirmed last week that the actor has secretly attended an initiation ceremony in India where he took on the mantle of Chung-rag Dorje, an ancient sage.

Seagal was "recognised" by Penor Rinpoche, head of the Nyingma branch of Tibetan Buddhism when the lama was in the United States this year. "There were omens that Chung-rag Dorje was about to return, and then Penor Rinpoche saw Mr Seagal. It was a spontaneous thing," said a Rinpoche aide last week.

Dorje is an important figure in Buddhism. Some have called him the Nostradamus of Asia.

Although Seagal paid the temple =A32,000 "expenses" during the two-day ceremony attended by hundreds of monks and nuns, sources close to the 6ft 4in actor have denied that he has, in effect, bought the title. "There have been rumours that Seagal was recognised because he paid other big donations to the monastery," said Tsering Wangyal, editor of the Voice of Tibet radio station.

However, Seagal, 45, appears to be taking steps down the road to enlightenment: he was recently reported sitting in the lotus position in Benares, wearing blue jeans and Buddhist vestments, blessing dozens of passing monks. Witnesses said that, unlike Rinpoche, the baffled Buddhists did not appear to recognise the kung fu hero.