The Dalai Lama Talks Secular Ethics

"I want to tell you - I am nothing special," he insisted Friday. "I am just another human being like you." Is the most honest this man has been with the public. Take him at his word and disregard the God_King hype as wishful thinking.
This lama excommunicated an entire Buddhist lineage on his whim a few months ago.
He has neither the authority nor the mandate of the Tibetan People. How could he? He represents only approximately 120,000 Tibetan refugees. The dedicated Tibetans reside in China_Tibet, where the Chinese have improved the common Tibetan's life to a level their grand parents never even dreamed possible, as they suffered in Servitude to the Dalia Lama Lineage as Serfs and Slaves for over 350 years.
The 'Serf Emmanciaption Day'. is equivalent to President Lincoln's 'Emmancipation Proclamation'.
One might look beyond one's endoctrination of the Cold War into the actual prism that exist as a new lease on life for the Tibetans living in Tibet.
Dalia Lama had over 2,000 Serfs in 1949 serving his every need. Just like old Jefferson Davis of the C.S.A. , why not revere him, he and Dalia shared the same views on Slavery and Servitude?

China liberating the Tibetans from the Dalai Lama? Please! China has a communist government who tells their people what to say, what to do and how to do it. Tells them how many kids they can have and punishes people if they don't do what the're told.

Chinese people could not travel around in their own country until very recently and their government monitors and determines what they can watch on TV and what they can't.

Chinese men and women work 7 days a week and their living conditions are quite undesirable, as anyone who has been in China would be able to tell. Even as a tourist you get the impression that you've been watched.

When you ask questions about their way of living to random people on the street, at stores or in hotels, everyone gives you the "official version" that they've been given by the government, and only a few daring ones will give you more of a hint of what it really means to live in China.

A life of servitude could be understood when it is a choice and not an impossition by a totalitarian regime.

I think Elizabeth Schwyzer writes about as well as anyone I've read in the Independent. Thanks for your clarity.

Thomcanada,
We, Tibetans and in our buddhist culture, we do not have the practise of 'excommunication'. If you want to read more about the practise of Dorje Shugden, then do the research. The Dalai Lama has found the Dorje Shugden practise to be unbuddhist... the practise is coercive with fear, greed and hatred at the root of the practise. His instructions were simple. If you continue to practise Dorje Shugden, then do not look at the Dalai Lama as their guru. The fact that Dorje Shugden followers are able to maintain their practise and protest is a clear evidence of their freedom to practise. They cannot have it both ways. They cannot expect endorsement of the Dalai Lama. So get your facts right.

As for situation in Tibet, why does China feel the need to ban pictures of the Dalai Lama inside Tibet? Why does China feel the need to completely shut Tibet from independent media or individual travellers? What is China hiding inside Tibet? If Tibet has always been part of China, then why is China so sensitive and insecure about Tibet?

If you care so much about the Tibetans and Tibet, why not be equally concerned about the Chinese brutality and oppression in Tibet today.

Gyame Kyakpa So

Sorry, does not compute. There must be a 'good guy' and a 'bad guy'. It's not possible for both the Dalai Lama and China to be 'bad guys'. Let's toss a coin.

maven12, I too am a fan of Schwyzer, more so in that she writes about stuff of which I have little interest yet she renders them interesting!

I'm just wondering if the Independent did enough stories on the Dalai Lama?

It is no longer a question of whether vajradhara is spirit or higher being. This issue is now a political issue. It is a matter of individaul right - pillar of any democratic society. If worshiping dorje shugden degenerates Buddhism , than same can be said about all the other protectors of four.
Every individual should be given right to practice what she/he feels right; so long as it does not harms other people. In india there are millions of different dieties. can you imagine prime minister or some Guru saying particular diety is unfit to worship! what would be the repercution?
The Tibetans never understand the Principles of our Founding Fathers of our Constitution or Bill Of Rights. They prefer to worship their former slave master as a God-King. How absurd to do you want to believe is your right. He has no rights to cause suffering of fellow Tibetans for believing as they wish. He has violated others freedom and right to believe as they choose. Pure and simple and the Simla High Courts will decide this September if Dalia lama and Samdung are guilty of the charges.
It is as I said, a question of one man has no right to tell others what to believe. He has no authority to tell anyone what to do. His history is proof in itself that he conquered Tibet with the Mongolian Cavarly and implemeted a policy of manipulation which Hitler greatly admired.His idea about serfs and slaves is now exhibited in the People's museum that is dedicated to revealing that Serfs were actually treated as chattlel and controlled by ruthless methods that we now see today used by the Taliaban and the Sharia Laws.
Mutilations, death by tossing off high walls or thrown as bags in rivers were how the Lamas got around taking human life.
We no longer require a tool of the CIA to preach morality to us. He was the servant that took the money.
The Chinese do not exhibit picutres of the Dalia Lama any more than we Americans allowed photos of Hitler to hang on walls during the reconstruction of Germany.
Why did the Dalia Lama not receive news of the American 'Emmancipation Procalmation' at the same time he was driving cars and listening to radios. He knew what was going on the the free world long before the Chinese libertated 95% of the Tibetans from suffering for hundreds of years under the terror tactics of the Dalia Lama Lineage.
I've known the Dalia Lama and his brothers since 1967-68. I know well the stories of their duplicitious ploys to enlist support from the Western Allies were all lies and deceit.
Look past the colors and giggles to the truth of the Charlatan.

That is one of the best pics I've seen yet from Paul Wellman. Great light and nice expression with the gesture of the hands-he truly captured a moment. Informative article too. Thanks.