[Buddha-l] Sharon Stone and Karma

[Richard Hayes]

On Thu, 2008-05-29 at 16:25 -0400, Curt Steinmetz wrote:

> But China is a vicious totalitarian state that has 
> not only brutally suppressed the Tibetan people for over half a century 
> - but is also responsible for a murderous campaign of extirpation 
> against Buddhism (and other religions) among 1/6 of the human race.

A couple of days ago, I heard an NPR reporter interviewing Chinese
students at an English-language university in China. The interviews had
been taped before the Sichuan earthquake but were aired afterwards. The
interviewer asked several students about the Tibetan situation, and the
answers were almost exactly the same as answers we have all heard for
the past forty years, perhaps more---my own recollection of hearing
these responses goes back only that far. Altogether now, repeat with me
what Chinese students say about Tibet.

1. The Tibetan people were far worse off under Tibetan government than
they have been under Chinese government. Tibetan government was far more
brutal and repressive and intolerant of dissidence than any Chinese
government has been.

2. The Tibetans now have better access to health care, education, modern
technology, and transported foods and manufactured goods than ever
before in their history, and most Tibetans appreciate these changes.

3. Tibetans are being educated in Chinese, a language that gives them
access to a language that more than 25% of the world's population uses
as a written language, so they have been lifted out of a cultural ghetto
and made part of one of the oldest and most advanced cultures in human
history.

4. Tibetans are treated far better by the Han than American Indians and
African Americans have ever been treated by European Americans.

One is reminded of the line in Lewis Carroll's "The Hunting of the
Snark": "Say it three times and it's true." It's amazing how much of
human history has operated under that observation. (All three candidates
in the current presidential race are exploiting it to the hilt.)
 
> There ought to be some karma involved in that. Like the Rev. Jeremiah 
> Wright said, chickens eventually come home to roost.

At least Rev. Jeremiah Wright got it right. Human beings were enslaved
by European Americans. There were genocidal campaigns against native
Americans sponsored by American Americans. American governments have
repeatedly made their citizens participate in unjust, illegal and
unnecessary wars. Established Americans have made life miserable for
countless Jews, Italians, Eastern Europeans, Asians, Mexicans and
Hispanic Americans who have come here in hopes of being some of the poor
and huddled masses who would be embraced in the welcoming bosom of Miss
Liberty. In the last two presidential elections in the United States,
successful efforts to disenfranchise large numers of black voters in key
swing states have been documented and publicized. Centuries of abuse of
disempowered peoples by American power brokers have naturally led to
deep anger and outrage that has expressed itself in human beings---not
earthquakes and other natural disasters---attacking the symbols of
American economic and military might. This account of chickens coming
home to roost is infinitely more wise and compassionate than a plastic
movie actress's inane comments about karmic seismic events, especially
when one notes (as you already have, Curt) that the earthquakes have
left the oppressors untouched but have victimized millions of already
oppressed people, making them even more miserable. 

-- 
Richard Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico