Ocean of Wisdom?

I find the gushing praise of the Dalai Lama bizarre. He has no great or profound philosophy, no lasting achievements in politics or religion, and expresses views that range from the incoherent to the outright oppressive.

Yet normally sane, critical people uncritically assume him an apostle of wisdom and peace without questioning or considering either his record or his beliefs. I suggest a restoration of fairness and disinterestedness to a debate that has become unbalanced and shrouded in mysticism – an imbalance that would not be tolerated for a Western religious institution.

He is praised as a voice for Buddhists throughout the world. The Dalai Lama is a representative of all Buddhists no more than the Pope is representative of all Christians. There is Theravada Buddhism, over half the world’s Buddhists; as well as Shugden Buddhism, a Tibetan heresy that the ‘Buddha of High Compassion’ expelled from Tibet before having it explicitly banned in 1996. Presumably tolerance of other religions will not constitute THE PATH TO PEACE AND HAPPINESS IN A GLOBAL SOCIETY.

I do not find him wise or insightful. Many of his interviews consist of him giggling after discussing violence. In an interview with Johann Hari he virtually states that disabled children are punished for crimes in a former life and his Ethics for the New Millennium had to be edited for homophobic comments. This non-violence advocate has praised the use of guerrilla warfare, and yet refuses to take a clear stance on Iraq. What can one expect from one who is essentially a child selected at random?

This is partly the source of his inability to articulate on any major topics facing the world or his people. He is still a child, only knowing tutors, servants, those who protect him, cook for him and clean up after him. He has never had to enter adult life: never held a job, worked, paid rent, lost his virginity, or had any of the experiences that form adult existence. For an ordinary person this would be considered a ridiculous innocence, yet this is overlooked or considered a virtue in the Dalai Lama. It is acceptable to berate a catholic priest for lacking these experiences but any such criticism of the Dalai Lama and I will be lambasted for spiritual poverty.

And let us not forget the land of wisdom and harmony of which he was Monarch. Tibet, the feudal totalitarian theocracy. Very much like modern North Korea: hardly any electricity, sanitation or efforts to modernise, and governed by an unquestionable ruler. Over a century after Russia abolished serfdom, entire families were the properties of a Monastery. One of the oldest, Drepung, owned 25,000 slaves who believed their status divinely ordained and an acceptable punishment. A 17-year-old of sound enough mind to free all his prisoners was somehow incapable of emancipating slaves. The benevolent God-King lived in a thirteen-storey palace with over a thousand rooms while his subjects lived in medieval hovels. An unusual home for a man who sympathises with Marxism and the universal distribution of wealth.

What a Dalai Lemma…

Most bizarre I find is the sheer ignorance about him by people who claim to be his admirers, people who don’t even know his name. The same people who criticise resurrection and miracles in a religion they are culturally accustomed to, Christianity, are gushing to meet a reincarnation of the spirit of Siddhartha Gautama and seem completely blind to the cognitive dissonance that this implies. Most absurd is the notion that this will be a lively discussion.

All questions to my knowledge have had to be approved in advance. The ones I have heard in advance are the typical Union fare – taking a minimum of five minutes to say and more a display of the speaker’s verbal dexterity than a genuine desire for knowledge and understanding. I am not saying these practices are acceptable in Christianity. I find them deplorable in any religion and Christianity is rightly criticised for it. I do not want to besmirch but to equalise. No religion should be above criticism, yet this status beyond question and without consideration is somehow accorded to Tibetan Buddhism and its King.

I see on Facebook that someone has an invitation. They are very excited. A few posts below, someone has posted Tom Lehrer’s ‘Vatican Rag’, a song which makes fun of transubstantiation and the concept of original sin, two absurdities which resulted in my abandoning Catholicism many years ago. I wonder what would happen if I wrote a song criticising reincarnation, or the owning of families of slaves? These practices are absurd, abhorrent. But it’s the Dalai Lama? It can’t… Wait! … He’s here (Screaming)! No bags, disagreeable questions or common sense will be permitted.