A senior Living Buddha planting trees has become a popular story on everybody's lips in Erdos City, in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, according to sources from the region's forestry department. Rebudeng Daoerji, 70, the chairman of the Buddhism Association of Erdos City, has planted large tracts of trees in and around desert areas for the past 10 years.

He became the Living Buddha of the Wushenzhao Temple at the age of three. He graduated from the Beijing Tibetan Buddhist Institute and was a member of the political consultative conference for the region. More than 10 years ago, he led monks from the temple to plant trees in the neighborhood. Daoerji now hopes that can do more for local sand control in his remaining years. Early this year he committed to planting 180,000 trees on another 5,000 mu (about 338 hectares) of desert.

(China.org.cn translated by Li Jingrong October 25, 2002)