[Buddha-l] Tibet uprisings

[jkirk]

HHDL won't abandon passive resistance because he knows that if he supports
uprisings positively (as opposed to just not criticising them) many more
lamas and civilians will be killed. He could not accept that consequence.  
Anyway, how could the Tibetans in Tibet successfully throw the Chinese out?
It's impossible now because China is fully armed and the rest are not.  The
most any of us can hope for, is that the international "community" will
pressure China to stop oppressing and swamping out the Tibetans in Tibet
(which China says is "their own" country). 
However, it didn't happen with Burma, so it probably is not going to happen
in this case, either. All the talk about international human rights is just
so much international prevarication to save various faces here and
there--phony as a one dollar US bill.
Joanna
============



Christopher Fynn wrote:
>
> Younger generation rejects non-violent tradition:
> <http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/18/tibet.china2>
>

I don't think that pacifism has ever been widely accepted among Tibetans.
Historically it has never been a tenet of Vajrayana - quite the opposite, in
fact.

Because of the the authority that the Dalai Lama has, and also because of
the daunting prospect of directly taking on the Chinese, I think that
Tibetans were willing to, as the old song says, "give peace a chance". 
But not only has HHDL's approach failed to yield any results, but he has
also encouraged the development of a more democratic political culture for
Tibetans. I think it is because of these two factors that many Tibetans,
like those quoted in the article linked above, are starting to say more
loudly and more publicly what they have been saying quietly and privately
all along.

If His Holiness listens to the Tibetan people he might even do what Nelson
Mandela did after the Sharpeville Massacre - and abandon "passive
resistance" as the only acceptable form of struggle. But even if he does not
do that - I doubt very much that the 15th Dalai Lama will be a pacifist.

Curt Steinmetz
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