[Buddha-l] Contemporary Tibet

[Richard P. Hayes]

On Sat, 2005-06-18 at 22:02 +0100, Mike Austin wrote:

> This is old news now, but I guess the point you are making is that it 
> says more about H.H. Dalai Lama's antagonists that it does about him.

Exactly. While I think there is no one in the history of the universe
who cannot be legitimately criticized for something or other, it seems
to me that much of the criticism of the Dalai Lama is either silly or
petty or both. (Say, wasn't Silly Petty a favourite toy a few decades
ago?) His job is close to impossible, and there is no way a person in
his position could satisfy everyone. He is a strong advocate of
modernizing the Tibetan educational system (both secular and monastic)
in India, but he has all kinds of conservatives barking at his heels who
want to preserve the old-time (and often horribly old-fashioned)
religion. As he said once said (at that same meeting in Montreal I wrote
about earlier) "The Tibetan people worship me like a god, but they
rarely follow my advice." (Come to think of it, can't this be said of
pretty well ALL gods?)

-- 
Richard Hayes
"God protect me from your followers!" --American bumper sticker