Letters to the Editor
-
and to what Benevolent Tyrant would YOU, aront54, entrust,
YOUR human rights?
-
Exactly who do you propose for what Tibet needs?
I am an anthropologist and a historian. I do not claim special or expert knowledge of Tibet, but I have studied its language and culture. I know that the concensus among scholars of Tibet is that while China had various kinds of Imperial/Feudal relations with Tibet over centuries—including at least one occasion when Tibet was the politically superior party—China never actively controlled the territory of Tibet until the 1950's when Chinese Communist Armies actually invaded and then occupied Tibet. Tibet for centuries was itself a Buddhist polity, marked by all of the complexity—gentleness, brutality, openness, aristocratic arrogance, dynamism, potential—as any other civilization.
The political rulers of Communist China are trying to crush all of this, destory this, deny this, in the name of "progress," which is how native peoples are always destroyed. Whether or not the Dalai Lama is the best champion for Tibet's cause is an idiotic question. That nation has been ruined, ravaged, raped. He trys to help. He doesn't need to-many DL's in history have been quite divorced from practical politics. One of them spent his time drinking and writing love poems. He is also loved by the Tibetan people. But asking about whether or not the present DL has been effective is to obscenely igonore the extent to which others have had nothing to say while monks and nuns and men and women and children have been killed and tortured and raped and forced to abandon their own language and culture.
-
"Catholicism" wrongly capitalized
It's by virtue of the Dalai Lama's catholicism, not his Catholicism, that he's open to other faiths.
For that matter, it's Bayard's parochialism that leads him to snidely remark on the Dalai Lama's failure to explain Tibet's miserable destiny:
"It's complicated ... mysterious." Which the bedazzled Iyer takes to mean that the answer "belonged to worlds I wasn't in a position to enter or understand." I take it to mean that the Dalai Lama lacks a good answer.
Bayard may well be right in his skepticism of Iyer — I haven't read the book. Certainly "... [B]elonged to worlds I wasn't in a position to enter" sounds like it might be baloney.
But what is definitely baloney is the idea that the Dalai Lama is somehow being disingenuous in his inability to explain the contradictions of Tibet's fate. He's been fairly clear about his belief that his escape and subsequent life in exile constitute an uncertain, unknown path. He and his followers have navigated it as best they could by the light they took with them when they left.
Unless Louis Bayard is trolling for hits, it's hard to see how he could have spent any time researching the life and teachings of the Dalai Lama and not understand that.
-
The Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama is the right man for this job, if there is one. We forget that Pope John Paul, the Polish Pope--and Mikhail Gorbachev brought the cold war to an end. The pope proved you can be spiritual and tough at the same time, and I think the Dalai Lama should follow that pattern.
China can't be whipped by the force of arms. But courage and ideas and tough spiritual will and the force of world opinion might move the regime--against it's will.
I have to say, though, I don't think it is smart to talk about stepping down. And I would be very careful to avoid assassination, which was tried on John Paul. And was successful in Gandhi's case--in India.
I greatly admire the Dalai Lama, without knowing anything about his religion and little about his country.
-
Both Not Knowing and Knowing Wrongly!
I don't know about Pico Iyer's biography, but your post shows that you are ignorant about Buddhism and the Dalai Lama.
-
Buddhism 101
Yeah, I follow you. It's ridiculous to blame any ideology for the actions of the most fervent followers of that ideology.
---sarcasm on---
As ridiculous as blaming Chinese Communist Nationalism for the actions of Chinese police in Tibet.
As ridiculous as blaming Nazism for the actions of German followers during the Holocaust.
These things are not like the others. Tibetan Buddhism is not Zen or Nichiren Buddhism. Your metaphor is incorrect. It's more like blaming Baptist ministers for the actions of Catholic priests. Buddhism is older than Christianity, and the theological divisions between practices even more pronounced. Different divisions of Buddhism embrace non-violence with different levels of fervor.
-
Buddhism 101 and other ideologies
I stand corrected. Pardon my ignorance. And now a hopefully more correct re-statement.
---corrected statement below----
Yeah, I follow you. It's ridiculous to blame any ideology for the actions of the most fervent followers of that ideology.
---sarcasm on---
As ridiculous as blaming nichiren Buddhism for kamikazes.
As ridiculous as blaming Jihadism for 9-11.
As ridiculous as blaming Chinese Communist Nationalism for the actions of Chinese police in Tibet.
As ridiculous as blaming Nazism for the actions of German followers during the Holocaust.
-
another correction
make that Jihadism Islam
-
Dalai Lama
Bayard's analysis is excellent. For those like the Dalai Lama who are opposed to violence, I would state that freedom from tyranny has always come from the business end of a gun. The only "gun" China fears is world condemnation and a total boycott of the Olympics. Sometimes the opinion of the majority can tame the wanton use of the gun. But do we really give a damn? I doubt it.
-
The Glamourization of His Holiness
Through my journey as a Buddhist, I have become increasingly detached from the Dalai Lama himself; meaning his published works, and more involved in my own life as a Buddist. The unsacredness of Hollywood and their vanities in which we are unfortunately subjected to have taken away from the man, the prophet, and meditation. The Dalai Lama should not have allowed himself to become so public, as Buddhist followers who are not in it for glamour but for peace; as peace spreads through peace, not the media.
As for his feeling of becoming his last incarnation, he has possibly lost his way himself. It is unfortunate that his physical presence is so required by "false practitioners".
Will his texts be re-translated by a future Dalai Lama to fit a more glamourized Buddhist society? It is not an uncommon practice for ancient societies to do so. Some cultures even change their alphabets so that future generations cannot understand previous texts, as they realize that societies and their influences change.