[Buddha-l] modern buddhist teachers

[S.A. Feite]

On Jul 2, 2009, at 1:32 PM, Richard Hayes wrote:

> On Jul 2, 2009, at 8:54 AM, Curt Steinmetz wrote:
>
>> I don't really think the criteria I proposed are all that difficult  
>> to
>> work with - especially given the examples from Hinduism that I
>> included:
>> Vivekananda, Gandhi and Aurobindo.
>>
>> HHDL probably comes the closest - in fact I believe he is the only  
>> one
>> even in the running. He is extremely popular among Asian Buddhists -
>> especially in Taiwan and Japan (as well as, naturally, among Central
>> Asian Buddhists). And yet where Aurobindo, Vivekananda and Gandhi  
>> were
>> all committed to the complete liberation and independence of India,
>> HHDL
>> has adopted a far more accommodating approach with respect to the
>> brutal
>> conquest of Tibet by the Chinese, which I think greatly undercuts his
>> potential appeal and influence (and importance), although it sells
>> well
>> among aging hippies in the West.
>
> The Dalai Lama seems to be far more interested in the well-being of
> people than in the independence of countries. He is not by any means
> indifferent to the well-being of Tibetans, wherever they happen to
> live. Wanting to liberate India from the colonial administrative of a
> much smaller nation, as some 19th and 20th century Hindu leaders
> wanted to do, is a much more reasonable enterprise than wanting to
> liberate a country with a population of 2.6 megapeople from a nation
> that has a population of 1.3 Gigapeople. Being prudent and patient is
> often wiser than being quixotic and hot-headed. Putting the well-being
> of people above the essentially meaningless symbolic independence of a
> nation shows a firm grasp of Buddhist values.
>
> I have heard the Dalai Lama say that if the Tibetan people ever again
> have their own government somewhere, it will be a democratically
> elected government with a constitution that provides for a guarantee
> that some seats in the parliament be reserved for women. On that same
> occasion I also heard him say that the institution of the dalai lama
> is a thing of the past and that it makes no sense for a dalai (or any
> other) lama to be a political head of state. He also said that the
> study of abhidharma is likely to keep Tibetans in the dark ages and
> that a knowledge of classical Indian Buddhist philosophy is far less
> likely to help people than a knowledge of modern science. He also says
> he thinks it is far more important for Tibetans to learn English than
> to learn classical Tibetan. All this may have been said to please all
> the aging hippies in his Canadian audience, but it certainly sounded
> as if he actually meant it. People who know the Dalai Lama fairly well
> report that they are convinced he means these things. If he does, then
> he is every bit the progressive visionary that Vivekananda was (and I
> don't say that lightly, since I regard Vivekananda as the most
> inspiring visionary of the 19th and 20th centuries put together). Like
> Vivekananda, the Dalai Lama thinks people are much better off staying
> with the religion of their childhood rather than trying to convert as
> adults to an essentially alien way of thinking and acting. What
> Western Buddhist or neo-Vedantin could possibly disagree with that?
>
> Vivekananda proclaimed that the 20th century would begin the Age of
> the Śūdra. Can anyone who has witnessed the ridiculous and
> embarrassingly maudlin histrionics in the wake of the death of Michael
> Jackson doubt that Swami-ji got that one right? Judas Priest, there's
> a military coup in Honduras, a velvet coup in Iran, a North Korea that
> is testing missiles and probably producing plutonium, a rogue US
> president sending marines into Afghanistan, a worldwide economic
> collapse and more dire predictions than ever before about the effects
> of global warming, and three-quarters of the allegedly free world is
> distracted by the death of a guy who could do interesting dance moves
> while singing godawful music. But I digress, as is my wont.

Wonderful post Richard, thanks.

Could you share a source for the lecture you mentioned with HHDL in  
Canada.

Thanks In Advance,

Steve Feite
Bangor, Maine