Letters to the Editor
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armchair quarterback
"Would he have dared offer this counsel to the 1 million Tibetans who were directly or indirectly killed by invading Chinese?"
The fact of the matter is they would have died anyway. If the Dalai Lama pushed for war against the Chinese, I think it is safe to say that a lot more of them would have died, because let's face it- it was easier and more convenient to ignore Tibet than to stand up to the Chinese. The was no help coming from the West, and that was back in the days of Chairman Mao. Now that China is the sweatshop of the world it is even easier to turn a blind eye to Tibet. There's toys to be had and money to be made. It is easy to suggest the Dalai Lama should take a different course regarding the Chinese from the cheap seats, but Tibet as a nation is history- and it is with the West's tacit approval. Mr. Bayard's assertion that Dalai Lama's pacifistic stance towards the Chinese is horseshit sounds an awful lot like Western guilt under the circumstances. He knows we sold the Tibetans out for the sake of our own convenience, he feels guilty about it, so he wants to blame Dalai Lama for his nation of 4-5 million people getting overrun by the biggest country on earth. THAT'S horseshit.
The only reason we even talk about Tibet now; that Tibet is not just another anonymous nation like so many little genocide wracked African nations ignored by the world at large is because of the Dalai Lama. There would be no consciousness of Tibet if the Dalai Lama wasn't who he is and wasn't so steadfast in representing his and his nation's philosophy. He deserves credit, not shame- and in his public visibility he may yet prevail.
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I think most people have had the thoughts you voice about the Dalai Lama
Even those of us who admire him. However, who can save the Tibetans? You can ask a similar question about the extraordinary Aung Saan Sui Kyi in Myanmar or Burma. It is easier to be a symbol of a movement than to really change anything when a country as powerful as China decides to dig in its heels. China is Myanmar's only trading partner, but it is large enough to keep a brutal military regime in place that has systematically murdered the pro-Democracy party since 1990 when they won the popular vote by 90% of the vote. Su Kyi also has her hands tied. To care about her country, and yet to be helpless to do anything must be maddening.
I disagree only with your conclusion that the Dalai Lama wants to be left alone. I think that he probably does not wish to be political in the same sense that Sui Ky does, but religiously and culturally I imagine that he is going through hell watching what has been happening in Tibet.
And perhaps the more relevant question is, can the U.S. put pressure any more on a country like China to respect the human rights of the Tibetans, or to pressure the Burmese to allow people to have a voice in their government when we have our own hands dirty on the human rights issue in Iraq, and when our trade with the Chinese has proven so lucrative to our largest companies, fueling our economic growth and prosperity.
Much easier to allow Sui Kyi and The Dalai Lama to live in museums, so to speak, than to do anything about the deep injustices and repression to ordinary people that have occurred in Tibet and Burma, and that continue to occur.
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Dalai Lama is not a living god
I wish Western writers and journalists would stop refering to the Dalai Lama as a "living god" or as being revered by his people as such. They don't.
As another letter writer responded, he is a bodhisattva. A kind of compassionate being who reincarnates in order to help others.
Furthermore, and perhaps someone can expand on this, Buddhism doesn't have gods so much as it has archetypes. The Dalai Lama (and Buddha) are neither.
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Bad Cop, Good Cop
Look, everybody knows how politics works. If you want your side to succeed, then you need both compromisers and militants. Good cops and bad cops; each alone won't get the criminal to confess, but together they synergize. It's the old carrot-and-stick routine; for every Martin Luther King, you need a Malcolm X.
Open your wallet, take out a dollar bill, and look at the Great Seal of the United States. The eagle is holding both a bundle of arrows and an olive branch. Any further questions?
And yes, of course it's hypocrisy. That precisely is how politics works.
So the Dalai Lama needn't fret too much; his counterparts have finally arisen. If he's smart, and I think he is, then he'll go the the Chinese and make them an offer they can't refuse; namely, "me or them".
(And by the way, the Dalai Lama demonstrates the wisdom of choosing one's political and religious leaders at random. The head honcho should be never be one who sought the office; instead he should be drafted. It works for jury duty, why not the Presidency?)
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Seduced by the Dalai Lama or by Hate?
Humans tend to be seduced by hate. This is a human species problem. The spiritual way, whether you go with "God" or "Buddha" is by love and not by hate. The way of politics is to continually compromise principles for the sake of power, never arriving at directly living by principle. The teachings of the sages and prophets is not to compromise principles only because that doesn’t work. For proof, just look at the condition of the world with its continuing holocausts. What is finally pragmatic if not to live by love and non-violence? However, we are dealing with the human species who likes to “believe” in spirit but finds it impractical due to the innate human condition of ignorance. Buddhistx commit to help all beings until everyone goes beyond ignorance. It’s what you call a long-term project. The Dalai Lama has committed to this. He is an inspiring and entirely human example who is acutely aware of the power of human ignorance. That’s why he lives by a Middle Way. Should he abandon this or should we take it up?