Why do people care about the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Buddhists?
Posted on May 28th, 2010 by admin
Even at my alma mater, there was a "Tulane Tibetan Club"… with no Tibetans!
I don’t understand the allure of Tibetan Buddhism and the Dalai Lama.
That place is so remote, most people probably couldn’t even find it on a map.
Plus, their lifestyles are so pastoral and nomadic… it’s nothing like us!
And unlike, say, the Palestinians, there’s basically NO Tibetan-American community to speak of!
So what’s the big allure with this guy and his Buddhist group?
Fad, or people are so entangled with technology that they seek a freedom from it all, and the inner peace the Buddhists often portray.
May 29th, 2010 at 1:01 am
He is just another man that they have put on a pedestal just like the catholics and their pope.
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May 29th, 2010 at 1:33 am
He’s a good con artist. Naturally, that means he has a sizable following of suckers. He wants to restore the tyrannical dictatorship that ruled Tibet in the past. Yay. That’s worthy of support.
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Sarcasm.
May 29th, 2010 at 2:22 am
Fad, or people are so entangled with technology that they seek a freedom from it all, and the inner peace the Buddhists often portray.
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May 29th, 2010 at 2:33 am
Hey! be careful what you say about His Holiness Dalai Lama. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
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May 29th, 2010 at 2:38 am
Have you ever studied anything about Tibet or Buddhism? They’re interesting subjects.
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May 29th, 2010 at 3:23 am
Well, there IS a Tibetan American community, but it’s pretty small, so they are usually unnoticed.
But I guess Americans care for them because of China issues.
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May 29th, 2010 at 3:45 am
It is propaganda drummed up by people who need a cause to make themselves feel important. We never hear a chorus of people from Tibet protesting to be freed do we? How many times have you seen a car with these two slogans on them: "Free Tibet" and "Imagine World Peace?"
Since Tibet is not at war and it actually would take a world war to "free" it, how can you free it and imagine world peace at the same time?
Maybe we should interpret one of the slogans to mean this instead: "Imagine Whirled Peas," then it would be OK to bomb the bejeezes out of them so they can be free.
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May 29th, 2010 at 4:19 am
They are a group of humans being treated unfairly because of their beliefs. That should strike a cord with everyone on the planet.
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May 29th, 2010 at 4:34 am
I think it largely has to do with the Dalai Lama himself.
He speaks a message that appeals to a large number of people. He is a dynamic and charismatic person. The fact that he represents a disenfranchised group of people simply adds to the appeal.
I consider myself an (American) (Zen) (atheist) Buddhist. I have read and listened to the DL for a while now, but Tibetan Buddhism has no appeal to me.
On the other hand, you might want to consider that Christianity started as a cult of Judaism, but modern Christians don’t consider themselves very Jewish. My own Buddhist practice was started in America by a bunch of out of the mainstream Soto Zen teachers…so much so that it is almost universally considered something different from the mainstream religion (aka "western" or "American") in the East. Zen Buddhism, relatively speaking, is both big business and a living religion in the West, even though it has almost no Eastern Zen Buddhists within.
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May 29th, 2010 at 5:05 am
It’s a story of persecution and a message of peace. That’s "the big allure"
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May 29th, 2010 at 5:47 am
Since Tibet is a very remote place, Buddhism was maintained in very pure condition since it was introduced in the 8th century and had little outside influence. There was a highly developed level of scholarship and meditation both in and out of the monasteries unique to the world. This all changed in the 1950s when the Chinese invaded. Despite the Chinese claiming they were liberating the serfs, the Tibetans did not want to be occupied by the Chinese and indeed fought against overwhelming odds but failed to maintain their sovereignty. There was great loss of life as a result, and Tibetan culture was suppressed. Today, Tibetans are a minority in their own land due to Chinese "settlers".
The Dalai Lama is looked up to by the vast majority of Tibetans and he has tried to get the best deal for Tibet. Unfortunately China refuses to talk to him, and tries to stop any head of state from talking to him. He also has tremendous learning and is a living example of a Buddhist life.
Well you can’t find it on the map not because of its small size, because it is really quite big, but simply because it has been renamed China.
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May 29th, 2010 at 6:11 am
they are peaceful, introspective, thought provoking, science educated, philosophical, people who have open minds to the point of having experienced nirvana and have over come what we call "super powers" and achieved such super powers, including death.
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