The Dalai Lama came to Atlanta recently and was well recieved....
I wouldn't want to be a martyr either... could it be that he
gets more done by not becoming a martyr?
If he can just get westerners to show more compassion/respect
for human life that would be good. Tibet is under the clutches of
China. The entire country could martyr themselves and it wouldn't
change the current political situation.
Personally I don't look for heros and leaders. I do my sitting -
that's what I do. Leaders don't mean anything to me.
I believe there have already been enough people to lay down
their lives for ideas. If it helped others to be free that would be one
thing.... but the Dalai Lama.... he's an international teacher of a
certain type of Buddhism.
As for Zen//Buddhism.... of course Zen grew out of
Buddhism. In a way, maybe Zen out-simplified Buddhism.
Regardless of the differences, 'Buddhism' as a word means
'aware-ism'. Zen takes you to the same place in practicing it. So, the
differences are not personally important to me.
In general, I hold few opinions and those I seem to have I hold
lightly.
Opinions/dogmas, etc.., they just weigh too much.
Craig
Bill Smart <[EMAIL PROTECTED]org> skrev:
Jue Miao Jing Ming,
Thanks for the
history lesson. I was aware of all of those things except the part
about Mongolia. I thought it still was a part of China. In any
event the state of being part of China or not part of China is, like
all things, transitory. Some years high hemlines are in; some years
they are not.
Anyway my point was,
and the only point that should be pertinent in this forum, what does
all this have to do with zen? Is or should the nationalistic
aspirations of a country, or their people’s fight for political
freedom or social equality, linked somehow to zen? I think not. In
my opinion zen practice does not concern itself with and is not
influenced by such things.
I might add here
that I don’t consider zen and Buddhism the same thing, nor do I
consider zen a sub-set of Buddhism, nor inextricably associated with
Buddhism in any way. So, if your answer is going to be that social
justice is a concern of Buddhism, you’re not answering my question.Â
My questions is about zen, not Buddhism.
Thanks again for
your post…Bill!
From: Jue Miao Jing Ming - 覺妙精明 [mailto:chan.[EMAIL PROTECTED]com]
Sent: Friday, February 08, 2008 10:41 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]ps.com
Subject: [Zen] Re: D.L.
As always, each time, when we expressed an opinion, we could
take usually just one position. This DL issue is much more complicated
and no different than most of the world events. How can we express all
the opinions from all different angles with language? I don't know the
answer.
Here are some different angles...
The Tibetan religion is propagated on the reincarnation of the next
leader. When the monks rushed DL out, at such young age, was trying to
protect the linage. At that moment, their motives perhaps was quite
simple.
Thanks to DL, the world now realized that there is such a place called
Tibet and their Ripoche is all over the world teaching Tibetan-Buddhism.
How many of you understood what happened to Mongolia? It used to be
part of China. Now it is not.
Why can't the Chinese government leave the Tibetans alone. They lived
for generations in Tibet without ever interfered in Chinese politics.
Historically to most of the China men, Tibet and Mongolia are not the
Han race. Therefore usually the non-Han are regarded as non-Chinese,
or shall I shall barbarians. The Han's never really respected all the
other races in China. In the US, people are at least aware of the
racial issues. In China, the racial issue does not exist, because
that's the way it always is and always will be. i.e. Servants are
still being bought (like slaves) and send as gift s among the rich in
China today.
China's democracy will be possible only after the traditional, deep
rooted social classes are normalized. This will take generations,
because it was not being exposed or shall I educated to the general
public. Money is power is what the Chinese believed in for 5,000
years. Not human value. Pity is what most the Chinese practiced than
compassion deep down inside.
Well? :-)
Al wrote:
From: "Cynth" <Chinese Army would have him assassinated
and they'd
> choose his replacement to control the people of Tibet.
>
They chose his replacement anyway. Lama is the leader of a government in
exile, which is a lot like being the gal standing outside your former
employment, picketing after you have been fired.
The bottom line is that if the Dalai Lama were to walk the walk, he
would be
in Tibet. Whether he would be a martyr or not? Odds are that he would be
imprisoned. Nelson Mandela spent 24 years in prison for what he
believed.
Jesus Christ gave up his life for what he believed. So did Ghandhi and a
whole laundry list of religious figures throughout history. The pages of
history are colored with the blood of martyrs.
Dolly Lama is certainly not one of them. He prefers paid speaking
engagements to martyrdom. Dolly sits in his mansion sipping mint julips
while anonymous monks get martyred on his behalf. A real hero.
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