crisis in Tibet and about the long-term prospects for the survival of Tibetan culture and identity.His Holiness was his usual jolly and insightful self, though at moments one could sense the deep stress he feels due to the covert "cultural revolution" still being waged by the Chinese government against the Tibetan identity, which is so deeply rooted in Tibetan Buddhist culture. Tibetans are still being beaten, arrested, tortured, and killed for having voiced their wish for freedom and unimpeded spiritual reunion with their Lama teachers.
In the midst of it all last Friday, Senator and candidate John McCain met with the Dalai Lama and expressed his sympathy for the Tibetan people and solidarity with the nonviolent and moderate offer the Dalai Lama continues to make to the Chinese government. Later in the day, a letter came from Senator Barack Obama, expressing regret that his travel schedule prevented him from meeting and honoring His Holiness and pledging his support for the Tibetan cause in terms of regaining their human rights and religious freedom.
These good will gestures are heartening to all who desire peace and justice for Tibetans. Why did both candidates want to meet with the Dalai Lama? I find myself wishing that the candidates would read my new book, Why the Dalai Lama Matters, so that they can better understand the incredibly high stakes in this Tibetan liberation struggle. The China-West (especially US, EU, Russia, India, and Japan) relationship is the most important relationship for the entire 21rst century. China is one of the most ascendant nations of the coming era. We must all welcome its rightful importance. But the world will never tolerate another conquering superpower. The European and Japanese empires have declined. The Russian and American "superpower" hegemonies are demonstrating their un-viability. The UN is still crippled by the five WW II victors' wielding their vetoes. So China, India, Brazil, the Muslim world, and the main African powers will inevitably emerge. For global survival, they must not repeat the mistakes of previous empires and superpowers, but turn to a new concept of power, the power of interconnectedness, peacefulness, dialogue, a global meshing of mutual enlightened self-interests.
Robert Thurman
Jey Tsong Khapa Professor of Buddhist Studies, Columbia University
President, Tibet House US
Author of Why the Dalai Lama Matters
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I liked the article and the sentiments it puts before the reader to work toward a more integrated world in which the characters of each nation are interwoven, not repelled.
The headline was fine with me. His Holiness's appreciation for contact by politicians whether in person or by letter shows his respect for the capacity of each well-intentioned person.
The headline is misleading, but not for the reasons stated -- The piece is mostly about Mr. Thurman's book, how if the candidates had read it, they would both have met with His Holiness. The fact that McCain met with him shows that he is more politically astute, nothing more, nothing less.
Namaste.
I found the title of the article quite accurate. His Holiness the Dalai Lama not only spent time with the Republican candidate, John McCain, but there was also a communication of sorts with the Democratic candidate, Barack Obama. The article presented a very relevant truth: With China capturing the complete attention of the world right now and in the years to come, it is vital that our next President better understand the history and the true story of what has and is transpiring in Tibet. In the same vein as former secretary of state Madeleine Albright's book "Memo To The President Elect", Professor Robert Thurman's book "Whe The Dalai Lama Matters" is both an excellent and informative read as well as a profound resource for our next US President.
This is an aside on the ongoing Tibetan-Chinese power struggle. I was recently involved in Asian studies with the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia. We had a guest professor from the University of Pennsylvania who lived through Mao's Chinese Cultural Revolution. She was a female professor's daughter raised to believe in herself (i.e. she had equal worth to her male counterparts.) In her teens she was separated from her disgraced parents and sent to work with the peasants in the countryside. She took this treatment in stride. Far from embittering her, it enlightened her as to how most of her countrymen lived. The answers to two questions I asked her both astonished me.
First, I asked if the mothers in China valued male children over female children. She said of course, they were raised with that belief, (even though that was not her belief, because she was raised by the elite educational class). Then I asked her her feelings on the Chinese occupation of Tibet. She said simply and irrefutably, 'it is not an occupation. Tibet is ours.'
At first I was taken aback. Then it occurred to me that Britain's King George and America's Abraham Lincoln had similar responses when regions of "their" countries wanted to secede. Which raises the question, who has the right to choose who rules, if not the ruled? And why?
barak obama had just given a moving speech in berlin. . . that, in my opinion speaks more to the truth to which the dalai lama stands than a politician who physically meets with the dalai lama for what could be construed as a photo op in a campaign which needs to represent a candidate who has not espoused peace either in his words publicly or in his actions, for example his voting record on any manner of humanitarian issues during his tenure in the senate.
i, for one, can fall behind an individual who walks the talk, and does not have to leave an important mission to meet with a this treasure we call the dalai lama.
the evidence that he is philosophically aligned and simpatico is enough for me. the fact that obama did not abandon his mission in europe and the middle east in order to return to the US to meet with his holiness does not say ANYTHING to me about declining to meet. that was not the flavor of obama's actions in choosing to writet to rather than meet with the dalai lama summit.
no problem.
:) dina
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