It’s easy to be a champion of human rights when you’re an ousted dictator.

I’m not aware of any other dictators who happily relinquished all political power of their own volition even when there was no external pressure for them to do so.

Still, he IS a pretty great DL; I’d like to hope that his next reincarnation will be equally able to rally support for Tibet as a culture if not an autonomous region. . .who knows?

I mean, look at the Vatican: compared with Ratzinger, Pope John Paul 2 really WAS a saint!

There’s a bunch of anti-HHDL stuff going on here, which divides into two categories, which I will address.

1) “How dare HHDL not be 1000% in agreement with my views on feminism, sexuality, etc?”

Not that your particular opinions are wrong — they aren’t. Buddhism needs some fixing, but as HHDL has said, it’s not just up to him. He’s the leader of ONE sect of Tibetan Buddhism, but there are several others in Tibet, and still more in more or less every country in Asia.

I also don’t expect any political or religious leader to be perfect — except, perhaps, Buddha or Jesus. HHDL has specifically said he is not a buddha, and will cop to many faults.

2) A bunch of stuff about how he’s secretly a despot or used to own slaves.

This is technically true. When he officially assumed power, at age 15, it did include “royal” trappings — palaces, riches, servants. For the next 9 years, he was more-or-less the King/Pope of Tibet, and he spent those 9 years trying to fix Tibet’s relationship with China. And when that blew up, he ran for his life into India.

In exile, for the last sixty-plus years, he’s worked constantly to establish (for want of the better term) a healthy relationship between Tibet and China — one that integrates Tibet into China, but allows Tibetans to practice Buddhism. (He will point out that he does not want Tibet to be separate/”Free” from China, because, frankly, Tibet is a very poor country. It needs China’s help.)

Yeah, that’s definitely the behavior of an exiled despot — one who, as Penn says, is “desperate to return to power.”

In retrospect, and with considerable sarcasm, I can send a big Thank You to China for saving Tibet from HHDL. He was undoubtedly just about to start killing and enslaving his own people. I am especially thankful to China because they were forced — forced I say! — to kill and imprison Tibetans so that they can be free of the horrible despot that they only think they love.

Obviously, His Holiness the Dalai Lama had brainwashed everyone, and only the friendly, humanitarian Chinese government could have saved the Tibetans from a terrible fate.

How does HHDL brainwash people? With, as Penn says, “a trite, greeting-card philosophy” — which also happens to be a core principle of Buddhism, and also “The Golden Rule,” something that Penn, an atheist, claims to believe in. But I digress.

What has HHDL done in exile? Other than, you know, trying to fix the Tibet/China situation? Why, he’s been trying to build bridges between Buddhism and other major religions, and science and religion. And writing dozens of books about kindness and compassion. Of course, this is all part of his EVIL PLAN. As soon as he can get back to Tibet, he’ll start killing and enslaving people.

Yeah, right.

I’m amazed that someone as smart as Penn ended up with such a fucked up view of things.

I’m amazed that someone as smart as Penn ended up with such a fucked up view of things.

I’m not. He’s a fellow of the Cato Institue, an organization dedicated to smart people skewing facts to fit an ideology.

The media have put a spin on his words and have misrepresented his message. Please do not mistake their words for his.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn_%26_Teller:_Bullshit!#Environmental_skepticism

Sure HHDL isn’t perfect, but I’d adhere to his edicts before the despots in the PRC any day of the week.

Out of morbid (sheerly morbid) curiosity, did any Chinese protesters in Long Beach show up to support/oppose the Dalai Lama?

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0504-dalai-lama-20110504,0,7229481.story

I just think the Lama is tiptoeing around US policy – not to offend. It’s frustrating.

About Dalai-lama if your a Buddhist, then fine, me I’m not a buddhist and don’t get the thing. He is probably a great speaker, cook and break dancer but to be honest… its just “meh” across the board for me. Its like debating whether or not the Pope is a great philosopher or something.

Forgiveness doesn’t mean forget what happened. … If something is serious and it is necessary to take counter-measures, you have to take counter-measures.

You said:

But violent execution is fine under some circumstances he says… such as Osama’s.

He’s just stated a middle-of-the-road principle of non-violence, which is that you’re not required to let yourself be harmed. You’ve embellished that a bit.

And just say for the sake of argument, that SEAL team had orders to take him alive. What fraction do you figure of that team wouldn’t succumb to the temptation to scratch that itchy trigger finger, when they’re faced with a guy who’s been held up as Public Enemy #1, a veritable antiChrist, for ten years?

That will make no sense to anyone who comes straight to this page without seeing the Dalai Lama Diet photo on the front page.

I’d say it’s primarily intended as a heads-up to the Mods, no?

I mean, +1 just look at that aspect ratio.

“His Holiness then answered questions, some of which were submitted through the Internet. The first question was on His Holiness’ emphasis on compassion as a basis of ethics. It asked whether in some situation ensuring justice is more important than being compassionate to the perpetrator of a crime. It referred to the news of the death of Osama Bin Laden and the celebrations of it by some, and asked where compassion fit in with this and ethics. In his response, His Holiness emphasized the need to find a distinction between the action and the actor. He said in the case of Bin Laden, his action was of course destructive and the September 11 events killed thousands of people. So his action must be brought to justice, His Holiness said. But with the actor we must have compassion and a sense of concern, he added. His Holiness said therefore the counter measure, no matter what form it takes, has to be compassionate action. His Holiness referred to the basis of the practice of forgiveness saying that it, however, did not mean that one should forget what has been done.”

And at @DeWynken.. with that line of logic it’s not hard to see how liars, thieves, and despots get into power.

Last time, I read a interview from “his holyness” he stated he did not aprove homosexuality, as it was inherently anti-natural and LGBT’s should consider abstinence as a way to diminish suffering…

Quoting a LGBT as posing a “persecution” question is a shrewd diversion tactics… I wonder if the original question was placed as an indirect ironic reference to “his holyness” medieval theologies.

Just ask yourself and around: How are LGBT’s treated in Butan, Nepal and Tibet…

http://www.myspace.com/video/chris/penn-and-teller-explain-why-the-dalai-lama-sucks-ass/4328870

I was hoping for Boing Boing to surprise me with a more critical take on “his holiness”, but I see he got the Disneyland treatment.

How are LGBT’s treated in Butan, Nepal and Tibet…

Illegal in Bhutan. Nepal’s new constitution is expected to legalize same-sex marriage and protect gay rights. Tibet is run by China.

How are we treated in the rest of East, South, Central and Western Asia, the Middle East, Africa and most of Latin America?