A Tibetan lama famous for singing in the rap music style will release his second CD to spread Buddhism through rap and hip-hop songs, a Taiwan music company said on Friday.

    "We have begun preparations for Singa Rinpoche's second CD. Singa and us will cooperate in writing the lyrics and music. Like his first CD, the theme of his second CD will be compassion and love," Cheng Chao-jen, spokesman for Forward Music, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

    Cheng did not say when Singa's second CD will be launched, but said preparation for a CD usually takes eight months.

    Singa, 30, lives in Qinghai province, in north-west China. He has many disciples and fans in Taiwan where he is known as the "handsome lama."

    When Singa visited Taiwan in the spring of 2006 to promote his autobiography, This is Me, a Living Buddha, he stirred up controversy because he wore jeans instead of the lama's red robe.

   His book added to the controversy by talking about cars, fashion and girls, causing the Government Information Office to ban him from entering Taiwan for one year.

   In June 2007, Singa visited Taiwan at the invitation of Forward Music to promote his CD Wish You Happy.

   His songs, which combine Buddhist chants with rap and hip-hop, are popular among young Taiwanese.

   "In the three months after its release, when Singa Rinpoche was banned from entering Taiwan, we sold 30,000 copies of his CD. In the two weeks he visited Taiwan in June, we sold another 10,000 CDs. This is smashing success for a new singer because for a normal singer, a new CD sells only about 10,000 copies in the first three months after its release," Cheng said. dpa dc jh