Tibet

The Dalai Lama takes part in a discussion with scholars of Chinese descent at the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College.

Duration : 0:45:20

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Technorati Tags: College, CUNY, Dalai, house, Hunter, Lama, Roosevelt, Tibet

Why is Obama not meeting with the Dalai Lama in Washington, D.C. this week? Is he afraid to raise the issue of human rights with China? What is going on? This fill me with dread for the future of the people of Tibet who have suffered much at the hands of the ruthless Chinese government.

Well since China pretty much owns you guys now, Obama has to keep China happy or else China will close the purse strings, your money will be worthless.

Talk is cheap. Let her show some actions for Dalai lama.
China at least built SIX more lama temples in the past 5 years. Should we ask Pelosi for ONE Lama Temple in San Franciso to show our genuine care about the Tibetan monks?

Yes and the Democratic party should pay for the whole thing, LOL, that was a great question!

Ann Curry interviews His Holiness the Dalai Lama on the NBC morning program The Today Show broadcast on May 20th, 2010. Video courtesy NBC.

Duration : 0:7:14

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Technorati Tags: ann, curry, Dalai, interview, Lama, nbc, press, show, today

What are the most significant accomplishments of the 14th dalai lama?

Peace, peace, and peace!
To be more specific: love, happiness, tolerance, understanding, and freedom. I hope the website helps you!

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama believes the world is becoming a better place, yet remains critical of China.

Duration : 0:2:4

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Technorati Tags: DALAI LAMA NEW YORK, REUTERS, USA

I know that the Dalai Lama is the head of Tibetan Buddhism.
I also know that he has political influence over many affluent leaders.
However, does he have any official role in the Government of the Tibetan Autonomous Region (Tibet).

Thank you.
By the way, I know that he has influence. Please don’t just write that.

Thank you again.

The formal position of the Dalai Lama is actually quite difficult to define clearly, both spiritually and politically.

First, the Dalai Lama is seen by the Tibetans as the most important spiritual master (lama), and as a manifestation of, Chenrezig, the Bodhisattva of Compassion (a personification of the pure enlightened compassion of all the Buddhas), which is also historically a kind of protector and symbol for the Tibetans as a people.

Formally, he is educated as a monk in one of the four main sub-traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, the Gelug tradition, and in some ways he can be seen as the informal "leader" of that tradition (the formal head of the Gelug school is another person, appointed for a period of seven years), although his role is more as a moral authority and inspirator than as a "pope".

As the political leader of Tibet, he was also more and more seen as the spiritual leader not only of his own tradition, but of all the Tibetan Buddhist traditions. This was in no way a formal role, and not everyone agreed or obeyed to his words and advise. The different Tibetan Buddhist traditions, schools and lineages are totally self-governing and independent of each others, as regards their internal activities.

After the Chinese invasion in 1950/51 and the subsequent exile situation, the unifying role of the Dalai Lama as a spiritual leader of all the Tibetans has become even stronger than before, as a way to encourage unity and hope among the Tibetan population, especially those in exile (around 130.000).

As a summary, you might say he is the "spiritual leader" of the Tibetans (that is, the morally and inspirationally unifying master), rather than a "religious leader" (in the meaning of a formal or operational leader, issuing religious "orders"). There is no formal "head" of all the Tibetan Buddhists, although there are a lot of formal "heads" of smaller sub-traditions of Tibetan Buddhism.

One should also remember that Tibetan Buddhism is not only the religion of Tibet, but also of Mongolia, Bhutan, several regions in Russia (Buryatia, Kalmuckia and Tuva), great parts of Indian Himalaya (Ladakh, Darjeeling, Sikkim and others), parts of Nepal and several of the minorities in China. Thus, the Dalai Lama is not just the spiritual leader of Tibet or the Tibetans, but also of millions of other Tibetan-style Buddhists around Asia, and today all around the world, since hundreds of thousands of Westerners and Chinese, among others, have adopted Tibetan Buddhism as their religion.

Over to the political role. The title "Dalai Lama" was given to the third Dalai Lama (the first and second were posthumously given the title) by the Mongol ruler Altan Khan in 1578, when he was made the spiritual mentor of the Khan.

65 years later, the fifth Dalai Lama was given the political power over Tibet by the new Mongolian Khan, Gushri Khan. It was made in a kind of typical Asian contract form, in that the Dalai Lama was the spiritual master of the Khan, at the same time as the Khan was the protector of Tibet, promising to miltary defend the Tibetans against outer enemies (like the Chinese and the Nepalese). The same kind of contract had existed from the 13th century, between other Tibetan lamas and Mongolian khans.

The next few centuries of political history is very complicated, with vaguely defined realation between the Tibetans, the Mongolians, the Manchus (who ruled the Chinese from 1644) and the Chinese themselves. In effect, though, the Tibetans minded their own business without interference from outer forces, and the Dalai Lamas stayed the leaders of the Tibetan government. You can see more in my answers to this question:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AgFw7QQN7EqibskxZsmJW87sy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20090929154700AAN6rUS

Even if the Dalai Lamas were the leaders of the Tibetan government, we shouldn’t exaggerate the extent of their power. There were several things that limited their power, for instance:

1. Since they were a lineage of reincarnated masters (only after one died, the next was born, so there was a gap of many years before the next Dalai Lama could assume power, if he ever did). Actually, only two of the Dalai Lamas were strong leaders of Tibet, the 5th (17th century) and the 13th (late 19th century to 1933). The rest of the time, Tibet was ruled by other temporary regents and governments.

2. The central government in Lhasa was very weak, and their influence actually didn’t reach very far way from Lhasa and the centralmost parts of Tibet. Most of Tibet was ruled by local leaders or even largely "unruled". A great part of the Tibetan population were nomads, who weren’t dependent of any political ruler at all.

You can see more about this in my answers to this question:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090719103846AADS9LE

Now to the present situation: After the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1950/51 and the exile of the Dalai Lama in 1959, of course he doesn’t have any political role inside Chinese-controlled Tibet (the Tibet Autonomous Region or Tibetan Autonomous prefectures and counties in Sichuan, Qinghai and Gansu provinces), but we could instead ask what his role is in the Tibetan Government in Exile (TGIE) in Dharamsala, India.

Again, this is a role that isn’t very easy to define. Earlier, he was the formal leader of the TGIE, but more and more he has initiated reforms for democratic elections of exile parliament and exile government, and tried to reduce his own political role. As a great charismatic spiritual master and unifying symbol of the Tibetan people, most of them still want him as their leader, but nowadays he actually isn’t the leader of the TGIE. Today they have a democratically elected Prime Minister, and the Dalai Lama describes himself as "semi-retired". Nevertheless, his influence is still strong, so just like his informal position as the spiritual leader described above, you could see him as formally without a formal political position, but still as the moral and inspirational authority that almost everyone in the Tibetan community chooses to listen to when he speaks.

If you want to see a few more words of answer to the propaganda rantings of WakkaWakka above, you could see my answer to the following questions:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Apq77QyKCPo3XWG9CO9_5Kjsy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20090922133210AA65Vgo

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080426090414AAQarn9

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AiQ7Baha5hTnS3OptMZm0Gvsy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20090816125050AAFT6rG

I am doing a school paper of religious influences in human sexuality. Is a Dalai Lama heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual? What are the religious implications?

I asked this question in ‘Religion and Spirituality’, but didn’t get many answers.

Thanks in advance for your contributions.

I think his is a mixture, one of a kind.
you see, when he visited taiwan, we didn’t know he has a stomach that is not human. he ate 3,000 dollar worth of dish. just think, 3,000, which could have gone to those needed, had ended up in his stomach.

In the remotest parts of Tibet, the American Himalayan Foundation has been working quietly as a lifeline for people who have no one else.

Over a dozen years AHF has built 33 schools where Tibetans learn in their own language, 24 bridges over dangerous rivers, and eight clean water systems for villages. They shelter elders whose poverty is shocking, support orphans, and build and maintain hospitals and clinics that care for thousands each year.

This year, AHF will help build two more schools with dorms and kitchens because nomad children live so widely scattered, a bridge that will free 3,000 villagers, and a clean water system so that 2,000 Tibetans wont have to spend hours gathering contaminated water from a river far away. Helping Tibetans has never been more urgent.

For more information about AHF and how you can help, please visit: http://himalayan-foundation.org

© 2009, American Himalayan Foundation, All Rights Reserved

Duration : 1:33:45

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Technorati Tags: berkeley, blum, center, Compassion, Dalai, Lama, peace, Tibet, uc, Webcast, yt:quality=high

His Holiness the Dalai Lama is the leader of the Gelukpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism. There are Tibetan Buddhists from all over the world and of every race and many nationalities. The Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of these people as well. Tibetan Buddhism is not just practiced in Tibet or among Tibetans anymore. Does the media not realize this? They always refer to him as being the spiritual leader of Tibetans, instead of just Tibetan Buddhists.

There is nothing holy about him. He’s right up there with muhammed, Joseph Smith, the Watchtower, and the Pope/RCC. They’re leading people straight to Hell.