On July 6, 2010 His Holiness the Dalai Lama turns 75, according to the Western calendar.
This is a good time to talk about what the Dalai Lama means to the world. Oftentimes, as part of my work here at the International Campaign for Tibet, I have come across people from, and working on, conflict areas similar to Tibet who want to know the reason why the Dalai Lama and the Tibetans seem to strike a chord among the American public. Part of the reason for this, I feel, lies with the Dalai Lama's personality.
There is the traditional Tibetan perspective of His Holiness that is shared by followers of Tibetan Buddhism along the Himalayas, including in Mongolia, the Russian Federation, Nepal, Bhutan, etc. This perspective regards His Holiness as the manifestation of Chenresig (Avalokiteshvara), the Bodhisattva of Compassion. He is someone who has the capacity to be fully enlightened but has chosen to come back to this human world for the sake of sentient beings.
Prior to 1959, an average Tibetan could only hope to meet someone who may have been fortunate to get a glimpse of His Holiness from a distance. At best this glimpse may have been at a religious teaching or when the Dalai Lama undertook his irregular travels in Tibet. It would be rare to meet someone who had an audience with His Holiness. The structure of the Tibetan society in independent Tibet was such that there was very limited access to His Holiness. Elaborate protocol was the rule of the game. To Tibetans, the Dalai Lama was the focus of their daily prayers. Nobody even dreamt of any close encounters with him.
But in the post-1959 period, following the flight of His Holiness into exile forced by Chinese incursion into Tibet, the institution of the Dalai Lama underwent a dramatic transformation, much to the delight of the young 14th incarnation. Aided by circumstances, the institution became less protocol-heavy, more accessible to the public and more practical. Over a period of time, this led to a close interaction between His Holiness and the Tibetan people, a historical development of sort. The most obvious indication of this metamorphosis is the increase in the number of Tibetans with the first name Tenzin. Almost every other Tibetan who is born in exile and under the age of 40 may have this first name. Tenzin is the name that His Holiness gives when followers of Tibetan Buddhism resort to the convention of approaching a lama for providing a name to their child. Prior to 1959 only a privileged few Tibetan children may have had the opportunity to get their names from His Holiness.
Life in exile has also led to His Holiness' interaction with the outside world, mainly through his visits throughout the world. This has provided the Tibetans with a new side of the Dalai Lama. While most of the Tibetans still hold strong to their Buddhist faith and thus subscribe to the traditional perspective of the Dalai Lama, they have also been able to see his human side. Accordingly, His Holiness has become the role model for the young Tibetans.
I belong to the generation of Tibetans who grew up in exile, a generation which had to be the spokesman for our people without having the direct experience of life in Tibet. This change in our situation, however, has given me a fresh insight into the Dalai Lama and has provided people like me with the opportunity unimaginable by my parent's generation.
Growing up in India, I did not dream even for a minute that one day I would be in the same room as the Dalai Lama, leave alone being able to strike a conversation with him. But that day arrived in the late 1980s and is fresh in my memory even to this day. I was accompanying an Indian photojournalist to the residence of His Holiness in Dharamsala as part of my work at the Tibetan Department of Information and International Relations. Between photo sessions, His Holiness looked toward me, just a newcomer to the Tibetan civil service, and asked me from which part of Tibet I was. That one ordinary-sounding question altered the course of Tibetan social history, to me at least. The Dalai Lama had spoken to me, an ordinary Tibetan, and had acknowledged my presence. Since then I have been privileged to interact with His Holiness on quite a few occasions in the course of my work.
My interaction with His Holiness is in a way symbolic of the transformation of the institution of the Dalai Lama that the 14th incarnation, Tenzin Gyatso, has brought about. The significance of the transformation can be comprehended only when one has looked at the history of modern Tibet, as well as that of the 14th Dalai Lama. To be objective the course of modern Tibetan history dictated certain changes in the institution as well as in the Tibetan society as a whole.
However, things may not have changed as rapidly as it did had the 14th Dalai Lama not complemented historical development with his own liberal outlook and foresight. My fascination (if I even dare use this term) with His Holiness is more to do with his social activism and less with his religious role. While His Holiness' outreach to the international community in the field of religion and spirituality, as well as in drawing attention to the plight of the Tibetan people, is acknowledged internationally, not many know much about his influence in the social thinking of the Tibetan people and his other followers.
The establishment of a system of universal modern education for young Tibetans, mainly with the assistance of the Indian government, in the wake of his flight to India in 1959 was the most important factor in changing the Tibetan society in exile. That one act by the Dalai Lama not only provided a level playing field for Tibetans at all levels of society in terms of educational opportunity, but the blend of modern and traditional education that was part of the curriculum resulted in a new generation of Tibetans, modern in outlook and also having knowledge of our cultural heritage.
His Holiness is a social reformer and an iconoclast. Relying on his moral authority and the well-founded justification of Buddhism as a rational religion, His Holiness has altered those theological perceptions of Tibetan Buddhists that did not conform to scientific reality. This included asking the monk community to accept the earth as round instead of flat, which is contrary to Buddhist scriptures, and removing the mystery behind the institution of the Dalai Lama, thereby forcing the very many lama institutions to follow suit. He has encouraged doing away with irrelevant monastic rituals and political protocols. He has transformed Tibetan Buddhism from being ritualistic to being a practice relevant to any individual interested in it.
His Holiness has been able to make effective use of his coveted position to change the social system not only of the Tibetans but also of communities that share the same cultural values as Tibetans. For example, although people living in the Tibetan cultural environment do not have a caste system, people following certain professions are looked down upon.
There is a story of how a simple act by His Holiness changed the outlook of the Ladakhi people (an ethnic Tibetan community that resides in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir that borders Tibet) towards the musicians in their society. It is said that a community of musicians is traditionally looked down upon in the Ladakhi society. During one of his visits to Ladakh, His Holiness interacted with one such musician, took the drum sticks from his hand, and beat the traditional drum himself a couple of times. This sent a strong message to the Ladakhi people.
One issue that has personally affected me is His Holiness' contribution to changing the dietary habit of the Tibetan people. Tibetan Buddhists traditionally consume meat, and the reasoning goes that Tibet in the past did not have adequate non-meat products. Since 1959, the Tibetan society has changed greatly. Today, Tibetans, whether living in exile or inside Tibet, do have access to vegetarian food. However, meat continues to be an integral part of the Tibetan diet even now, much to the consternation and confusion of outside observers who tend to equate Buddhism with vegetarianism.
Many people do not comprehend the significant role His Holiness has been playing in promoting vegetarianism. Through his personal example (he became total vegetarian for some years, but then had to resume some non-vegetarian diet on the advice of his physicians) and consistent advocacy using his coveted position, His Holiness has started leading the meat-eating Tibetan society along the path of vegetarianism. In the Tibetan community he has encouraged food workshops promoting vegetarianism. A meat-eating society has overnight started taking gradual steps towards vegetarianism. This is a significant development. There are increasing numbers of Tibetans like myself who have become vegetarians, and our encouragement has come from His Holiness.
His Holiness is also a role model for a balanced approach to life. He can adjust easily to royalty and heads of state as well as to a simple monk in a meditation cave. Several years back, I overheard one Swiss tourist exclaim "Sehr einfach!" -- very simple -- when he found that he was traveling in the same tram car as His Holiness. He can be very solemn in a ritual-filled Buddhist ceremony or be jovial among schoolchildren in a Tibetan settlement.
During the Dalai Lama's May visit to the United States that included trips to Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and New York, I was struck by his categorical assertion that the world is becoming more gentle and positive. This is quite contrary to popular feeling of the world becoming more violent and crisis-ridden. It has certainly provided much food for thought to students of the developing society.
His Holiness was adamantly clear during his lectures, his brief appearance on NBC's The Today Show, and during his meetings with the press in general that the world is becoming more positive. The indicators of his world view were the broader human concern for man-made or natural calamities worldwide (shown in the aftermath of the Asian tsunami and the earthquakes in Haiti, Chile and Tibet), the existence of peace movements throughout the world (which was visible prior to the United States' war in Iraq, for example); the emergence of an environmental movement (there was no such movement in the beginning of the previous century); and the increased interaction between science and religion (science is showing interest in not just external matters but also in the study of mind). In short, through a comparison between the 20th century and the 21st century so far, the Dalai Lama feels the world is becoming more positive.
The Dalai Lama feels that much of the blame for the popular view of the world becoming worse should be placed on the media, which tends to always highlight the negative (even though it involves only a miniscule amount of the world's total population) while taking the positive for granted.
The Dalai Lama has also been talking about his three commitments in this life. In addition to finding a solution to the Tibetan issue, he also embraces two fundamental commitments to promoting human values and religious harmony.
He refers to the "oneness" of all religions in that they all convey the same messages in attempting to make us better human beings. He thinks that at one level there is philosophical difference, which is a reality. At another level, he says all religions preach the message of compassion, love and tolerance, etc. The Dalai Lama feels we need to prioritize by treating the philosophical differences as secondary to the more important common messages. This is a worldview that would certainly make all religious practitioners rethink their approach to spirituality.
Similarly, in terms of human values, the Dalai Lama feels that differences in caste, creed, color, etc. should be placed at a secondary level to the more fundamental thinking of the sameness of human beings, who want happiness and shun suffering. This is a simple message, but placed in the context of the Dalai Lama's worldview, it certainly gets a greater resonance.
Generally, Tibetans believe in the ability of the Dalai Lama to liberate them from the suffering of this material world. That is a spiritual and subjective belief that only people subscribing to Tibetan Buddhist principles may comprehend. But the new perspective of His Holiness as a role model is one that may be shared by Tibetans and non-Tibetans alike.
Tibetan Newspaper, Tibet Times, mouthpiece of Tibetan government in exile
They surrendered to Communist China.“Your path is not mistaken. The Dharmapalas of Gelug Tradition are Mahakala and Dharmaraja.
. As for Shugden, I did worship in the beginning. Later I gradually came to know the realities.
If Drakapa Gyaltsen, the evil spirit born out of wrong prayer, pose harm to Dharma and
living beings, you should not support, rather annihilate him.
Therefore he is wrong prayer and evil spirit. He also poses harm to Dharma and living
beings.
Pabhongkha is the lord of Gelug Tradition. However he made mistake in some cases. It is mistake that Pabongkha widely spread Shugden immediately.
It is wrong that some says this is order of the Dalai Lama. You ought to know the
significant and reasons, as well as what the previous lamas have done. If you examine,
then you come to know why I imposed a ban [on Shugden]. These days, they are being
extensively supported by Communist China. Few monasteries are asked to worship
[Shugden].
Today they are making noise, pretending to be debating over there. The debating is
good. If they make noise, it is not right if I do not say something.
Sera-May monastery faced serious difficulties. Being headstrong, Shugden devotees of
Pomra Khamtsen beat and kill.He became real Chinese spirit.
http://www.tibettimes.net/news.php?showfooter=1&id=3292
There's a good article on this at http://dorjeshugden.com/wp/?p=1425 where it explains that the Dalai Lama is not evil and neither is Shugden. The reason why Shugden cannot be evil is because the Dalai Lama himself practiced him for many years. Also, one of the most respected Tibetan masters, HH Trijang Rinpoche has advised that we do not lose faith in the Dalai Lama nor do we lose faith in Dorje Shugden. When Shugden appears via an oracle, he also firmly says do not criticise the Dalai Lama.
Ergo, I find that i can keep my faith in Shugden as well as the Dalai Lama and find peace within. Please do visit http://www.dorjeshugden.com which i find gives much information on both sides of the controversy so people can make up their own minds. The forum there also gives space for discussion.
China’s display of force in Tibet, and later along the Indian border, was one of China’s greatest cold war propaganda defeats. But, beneath the adverse headlines, the Chinese actions seem to have had the desired effect. In Lhasa, New Delhi and Washington, it was belatedly realized that China could not be harassed with impunity.
The world, since then, has moved on to other conflicts and new perceptions. The Tibetan conflict is half forgotten. But is is worth remembering now that, but for CIA intervention and Indian encouragement, it is possible that the Dalai Lama might still be the leader of Tibet.
It is certainly clear now that, initially, communist China was willing to grant Tibet a far greater degree of control of its own affairs than democratic India was willing to grant to Hyderabad or Kashmir. At the same time, those fading events had the effect of pushing Tibet into an entirely new phase of its history.
Perhaps the governing irony, in fact, is that, but for CIA meddling in what even the Chiang Kai-shek regime regarded as a purely internal Chinese matter, the “revolution” that since has overtaken Tibet under communist rule might have been deferred indefinitely.
It’s obvious that Ogyen Trinley is going to be the Dalai Lama’s successor judging by the amount of security surrounding him when he travels in the U.S. and looks more like a military operation than a Buddhist teacher making a visit to the U.S.
Shimatsu’s team discovered that a helicopter that picked up Ogyen Trinley in Nepal was owned by a company that had previously done work for the United States CIA, Fishtail Air. Even more suspicious, the Fishtail Air office had lost all flight records for the day of Ogyen Trinley’s pickup. “When Susanna Chung and Prakash Khanal broke the story of the Mustang escape route and the Fishtail Air helicopter pickup at Thorang-La, I rushed the story and video to the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong Internet news department,” Shimatsu said. “Their news producers were very excited and promised me five thousand dollars.”
“Then we had to clear the story through editors of the print version of the newspaper. We were greeted by three editors. They were female, and I suspect two of them were MI-6 (British intelligence) agents. They killed the story with totally bogus questions, all of which were proven on tape and in notes. They wanted to know who our key contact was in Mustang,I refused to disclose his identity, since he could easily be killed by the Manang smugglers involved with the Karmapa escape.”
Tibetans lost their lands due to lack of an adequate government and illiterate population. The Tibetans Serf Institute upheld by the Dalia Lama Lineage for 350 years put an end to anything we in the West call Country. It was simply a feudalistic system that enslaved 95% of the People to work as less than chattel and no more than slaves.
Unlike the American Indians who displayed Courage, Fortitude and Perserverance with the Struggle to Remain as they were, the Tibetans had or have no real understanding of Democracy and the Freedoms We Enjoy in the West.
Only 23 % of the Tibetan Refugess voted in their last Mock Election to Select a new Leader of the TGIE.
Sara Palin would like this system.
Some would say the CIA created the Dalia Lama Westeners follow.
Some would say a Lama paid $180,000.00 per year to send ignorant serfs to fight the Chinese is unconscienable.
Some would say that to charge for Lord Buddha's Teaching is akin to Jesus and the Money Changers.
Some would say that Buddhas do not shun others.
Some would say the Dalia Lama is a Chinese Citizen.
I say most People have no idea that the Dalia lama and his TGIE are as Republicans and Want Everything for themselves
I say to the Dalia,Lama recant and Heal the Global Sangha or Get Off the Throne
You must be joking.
I have no problem asking for help when I need it from someone 'in the know' when it comes to something I know little about. I have also played the role of a teacher at times. I like to learn and I like to show what I know to someone who wants to learn, but that's extremely different from someone who's been given an artificial elevated status and enjoys a large following.
A teacher doesn't have groupies. Gurus do.
Do most people really need someone else to give them meaning to life or help in how to think about living?
The "lost years" of Jesus supposedly spent in Tibet was a tale invented by a Russian war correspondent in 1887 named Nicolas Notovitch. His claim that a book called "Life of Saint Issa, Best of the Sons of Men" was discovered in a Tibetan monastery has no verification. Several people have attested that Notovitch could not be telling the truth, including, according to "Famous Biblical Hoaxes" (Edgar Goodspeed, Beacon Press, 1956) the head of the Tibetan community that Notovitch claimed he visited where he allegedly found this story.
Add to that, the Dalai Lama himself. I'm not a Buddhist, but he strikes me as a person of impeccable character. If he knew there was any such book, there would be no reason for him to hide knowledge of it.
It is difficult to know the difference for me.
All I see are kalidoscopes, when I am around them.
All the Lamas skillfully acting in unison as one.
All we need to do is tap the mindstream and float with the tide.
When one is in the dripping love of the lamas and Compassion of the Buddhas Light.
It all dissolves and becomes one.
Some here have said your organization is funded by the Chinese government which zealously seeks to discredit the man. Is I wouldn't be surprised if that were true.
www.westershugdensociety.com
Find out for yourselves!
http://www.dalailama.com/messages/dolgyal-shugden/his-holiness-advice