--- In [email protected], "jim_flanegin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I can see why. He is a wonderful man. I just watched a TV program last > night called "Dreaming of Tibet" and it had the Dalai Lama on there-- > so humble and straight forward and in a good mood and friendly. > > Also spoke about China taking over Tibet and how Tibetans see this as > a karma, and DL has never said a bad word against China, just that > they see him as evil, a devil, which he finds amusing and > incomprehensible.
Well, the current Dalai Lama is (I think) the Fourteenth, and I was speaking about the Sixth, but in the traditionalist view it's the same guy. I don't necessarily believe this is true. But I agree with you that the current DL is an impressive dude. He is arguably the most widely-recognized Buddhist on planet Earth, and as such has to live not only his own life, but live as an "example of Buddhism." I think he does a *fine* job of embodying the compassion that is at the heart of Buddhism. And some of his fellow monks are even more impressive. There is a story that the Dalai Lama tells of meeting a lama who had been one of his teachers in Tibet when he was growing up. (I later met this gentleman myself, and he is just as impressive in person as this story indicates.) Anyway, they had not seen each other for 30 years, because the lama had been in prison in China; he had been captured during the overthrow of Tibet in 1950. Because the lama was fairly famous within the Buddhist community, he did not have an easy time in prison. Suffice it to say that he was tortured and beaten and humiliated pretty much every day of the 30 years he spent in captivity. Finally he was released, made his way to India, and was reunited with his former pupil, the Dalai Lama. In the course of "catching up," the Dalai Lama said to the lama, "Was there any point during the time you spent in prison that you felt you were in mortal danger?" The lama replied, "Oh yes...I was in mortal danger every day. I was in danger of losing my compassion for the Chinese." I think that stories such as this are apt right now, as we all try to make sense of the senseless and deal with the latest oddities of Maharishi and the TM movement. Whatever one believes about his latest actions and their motivations, one can still have compassion for the man. Unc To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
