Cid830,
I agree with you wholeheartedly that the Dali Lama is acting much more like
a political leader now, and my point is I believe he is sacrificing his
spiritual leadership by doing so. I would like him to speak about this and
try to explain how his political tactics are supporting his spiritual
leadership. To me they seem to be contradictory.
As far as the Tibetan culture is concerned, do you really know what they're
trying to preserve? Tibetan culture is like most historical Asian cultures
(and some historical Western cultures) in that they have are primarily an
clerical oligarchy - that is ruled by a religious elite. It is organized
with a very large clergy who do not work and generally tend to their
religious duties and act as vassals to the clerical elite - like the Dalai
Lama. The lay part of their society has to work to support this very large
and expensive clerical class who live in splendor relative to the common lay
people. Education for lay people is almost non-existent since they are
considered no more than worker-bees. They are instead controlled by preying
on their fears and superstitions. Women in Tibetan culture are treated
like pack animals and slaves.
Again, this is not dissimilar to Europe in the middle ages, so I'm not
trying to single them out as a renegade culture, but is this a culture that
you really want to encourage?
All that is, however, not really my point. My point is the Dali Lama is
SUPPOSED to be some big-time Buddhist sage, and yet his actions at present
seem to run counter to everything I know about Buddhism.
I'm not impressed.
.Bill!
From: Zen_Forum@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf
Of cid830
Sent: Saturday, June 28, 2008 12:28 AM
To: Zen_Forum@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Zen] Re: Lama's tip: Love or Affection?
So the Tibeten people should sit in zazen while their entire culture
and ethnic identity is taken away from them? I agree the Dalai Lama
may be more of a political figure nowadays, and who knows the nature
of his true intentions? But is the nature of the Buddhist to NOT
fight to preserve thousands of years of cutlture and history?
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