Letters to the Editor
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Bokononism is strength
It is their culture, their religion. Perhaps it shares culpability, together with geographical misfortune, for bringing the Tibetan people to the brink of the abyss. But calling it horseshit, or feeling sorry for the boy or elderly Chief Lama doesn't much compute to me. Tibetan Buddhists believe the individual is empowered to transcend the slings and arrows of daily life, to include brutal victimization at the hands of others, through enlightenment. It is not horseshit to believe that, and not less so than to believe in the ability of people to transcend anything. I for one can't sense much of a difference between it and, "Your son is with God now". "Love your enemies". "Turn the other cheek". You know, priest and prophet horseshit.
As for hinting that he may be the last of his reincarnated line, well, as I would expect the author knows, that has nothing to do with weariness on the part of the Dali Lama. That has more to do with the Chinese decision to abduct the chosen Panchen Lama 13 years ago at the tender age of 6, never to be seen again, and appoint their own. It is laying the ground for defiance, the opposite of giving in. Speaking of which, is it any surprise that the world has allowed Tibet to be swallowed whole like a cartoon fish when they can't even get it together to condemn a government sponsored abduction of a child? Never mind the abduction of a religion. If the Dali Lama cannot get any sympathy from the world powers from that disgraceful display, it seems rather heroic to assume that anything he could've done, short of parting the Himalayas, would've made much of a difference.