Anita Mui's last will and testament is the big news around here. The wildly popular singer and actress (think Asian Madonna) died in 2003, at age 40, leaving an estate currently valued at over 100 million (HKD, or a bit under USD 13 million).
The bulk of Ah Mui's wealth was left to the New Horizon Buddhist Association, which promotes Tibetan Buddhism (Karma Kagyu). Ah Mui's mother (seen below) hotly contested the will, the whole mess went all the way to the Supreme Court, and Mummy just lost, getting only HKD 70,000 (less than USD 10,000) a month for nail money. She better move to Shenzhen. Nobody I know can live on that in Hong Kong.
The not-afraid-to-fight-in-court New Horizon Buddhist Association is the Hong Kong front organization for the 17th Karmapa.
No, not the 17th Karmapa, but the other Karmapa: the one pictured below, who is frequently seen in public with the Sharmapa. Unless Anita's mum has big joss with the judiciary, it seems like one game is over, and another about to begin.
I just love Hong Kong.
Always have, always will.
Ever since I dated Roslyn Chan at university, I harbored a secret wish to write for one of the tabloids here. With this post (dead actress, legal scandal, two Karmapas), I have now officially crossed that off the Bucket List.
If you want to see me while I'm in town, try looking here.
The link on the Buddhist Bookshop site for the english version of the homepage is broken (\ instead of /) it should be http://www.buddhist-bookshop.com/english/indexe.htm.
ReplyDeleteWish I was there...
Fishy:
ReplyDeleteI thought the University of New England was somewhere in Vermont. No mercy for the wicked. You have to stay in NSW. I'll drink HK tea in your honor and ride the Ding-Dong in the rain.
Cheers,
T.
Armidale, on the New England Plateau 1000m above sea level, is about mid way between Sydney and Brisbane in New South Wales, Australia. This small city has a remarkably large buddhist community with two Gelug retreat centres each 30 minutes drive in opposite directions from the city centre.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, one is run by 'Geshe' Michael Roach's followers and the other by the followers of a (now Canadian) dorje shugden lineage holder, and very few of these lovely practitioners realise they are connected to such controversial lineages.
I've been collaborating online (and occasionally in person) with some of Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche's students who live a few hours north of here, and hopefully he will be spending more time in that area soon as he has moved all his Australian operations to that region, although they are about to sell Vajradhara Gonpa in Kyogle.
I've recently joined Rigpa, but feel that the return on investment is perhaps not as great as could be gained by spending the yearly subscription money on texts and teachings available elsewhere, but I'll keep forking out the cash because I quite like Sogyal Rinpoche's style.
Sometimes I feel like a guruless chela... A long way from home...
:)