Bizarre Expedient...
But then when you're really pressed by a truly intransigent and unforgivingly-determined protagonist you use whatever means are at your disposal. The means chosen are enlightened beyond belief. The Dalai Lama depends upon reasonable compromise. His cause is beyond reproach, his methods beg to be emulated in all situations of contested legitimacy.
As the leader of 14 million devout Buddhists his is the responsibility to a higher order of thought and behaviour in the face of adversity. And he serves his spiritual belief and his followers well by disseminating unceasingly his message of peace and patience - and above all, love for one's fellow man. His is a solemn undertaking, but he is no symbol of solemnity in his personal demeanour.
He finds life a bracing experience in guidance for those dependent upon his simple wisdom. Agitating in his gently chiding manner against violence of any kind, advancing instead the simple expedient of proffering trust, of behaving moderately, of being respectful to others, of appreciating life and all the opportunities it offers us as reasonable individuals.
He is also extremely creative. He asks now of China nothing more than a relaxation of its iron grip on Tibet, and the Tibetan people. While China angrily continues to accuse this man of advancing "splitism", he instead goes out of his way to express his desire that China see the utility of offering autonomy to Tibet, within greater China.
In his creative spirit, the challenge that reality has posed to him to ensure the continuity of Buddhist tradition in the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama faced with the opposition of China to permit that tradition to carry on in its 600-year-old tradition, he advances a series of options. The solution to be arrived at in a decidedly democratic manner, although he has the power vested in his person to arrive at a solution on his own.
He proposes a referendum be held among his followers, one that might serve the function of selecting a successor, but before the advent of his death. And even whether Buddhist heritage might be better served in the long run were he not to be reincarnated at all. Alternately, that he might himself select a successor to his exalted post who would be an adult, not a child to be guided and structured into the post, given the trials and tribulations Tibet faces.
It is as though this quietly brilliant man of peace seeks to turn back history and re-create tradition to better reflect the present, an unheard-of unseating of time-honoured custom, and an overhaul entirely of accepted Buddhist conventions, reliant on complex religious rituals to arrive at succession. Challenging the very essence of refined tradition to protect his spiritual lineage.
China professes to be scandalized and continues to excoriate this man.
China unabashedly continues to apply rigorous and often deadly pressure on uncompliant Tibetans, stifling the authenticity of the Buddhist reality and belief structure, then she poses as the righteous protector of that very same religion's traditional rites of passage. "The Dalai Lama's statement is in blatant violation of religious practise and historical procedure" clamours China hysterically.
For China, as befits its aggressive standards, is unwilling to allow control of Tibetan Buddhism to slip from her grasp, in her intention to install a child Dalai Lama she has selected as the "legitimate" successor to the incumbent. The situation transcends absurdity. It flies in the face of reason and intelligent appraisal of the conditions under which China stifles and controls Tibet.
Isn't the Panchen Lama truly a puckish figure? Who better than he to prick China into risible protest?
As the leader of 14 million devout Buddhists his is the responsibility to a higher order of thought and behaviour in the face of adversity. And he serves his spiritual belief and his followers well by disseminating unceasingly his message of peace and patience - and above all, love for one's fellow man. His is a solemn undertaking, but he is no symbol of solemnity in his personal demeanour.
He finds life a bracing experience in guidance for those dependent upon his simple wisdom. Agitating in his gently chiding manner against violence of any kind, advancing instead the simple expedient of proffering trust, of behaving moderately, of being respectful to others, of appreciating life and all the opportunities it offers us as reasonable individuals.
He is also extremely creative. He asks now of China nothing more than a relaxation of its iron grip on Tibet, and the Tibetan people. While China angrily continues to accuse this man of advancing "splitism", he instead goes out of his way to express his desire that China see the utility of offering autonomy to Tibet, within greater China.
In his creative spirit, the challenge that reality has posed to him to ensure the continuity of Buddhist tradition in the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama faced with the opposition of China to permit that tradition to carry on in its 600-year-old tradition, he advances a series of options. The solution to be arrived at in a decidedly democratic manner, although he has the power vested in his person to arrive at a solution on his own.
He proposes a referendum be held among his followers, one that might serve the function of selecting a successor, but before the advent of his death. And even whether Buddhist heritage might be better served in the long run were he not to be reincarnated at all. Alternately, that he might himself select a successor to his exalted post who would be an adult, not a child to be guided and structured into the post, given the trials and tribulations Tibet faces.
It is as though this quietly brilliant man of peace seeks to turn back history and re-create tradition to better reflect the present, an unheard-of unseating of time-honoured custom, and an overhaul entirely of accepted Buddhist conventions, reliant on complex religious rituals to arrive at succession. Challenging the very essence of refined tradition to protect his spiritual lineage.
China professes to be scandalized and continues to excoriate this man.
China unabashedly continues to apply rigorous and often deadly pressure on uncompliant Tibetans, stifling the authenticity of the Buddhist reality and belief structure, then she poses as the righteous protector of that very same religion's traditional rites of passage. "The Dalai Lama's statement is in blatant violation of religious practise and historical procedure" clamours China hysterically.
For China, as befits its aggressive standards, is unwilling to allow control of Tibetan Buddhism to slip from her grasp, in her intention to install a child Dalai Lama she has selected as the "legitimate" successor to the incumbent. The situation transcends absurdity. It flies in the face of reason and intelligent appraisal of the conditions under which China stifles and controls Tibet.
Isn't the Panchen Lama truly a puckish figure? Who better than he to prick China into risible protest?
Labels: Realities, Religion, World News
posted by Pieface | 5:13 PM
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