It seems a waste of bandwidth to weigh in (once again) on the latest publicity stunt of the Dalai Lama but "His Holiness" is a media darling and I feel compelled to put his visit to the White House in perspective: It means nothing except that the fundraising party circuit in Washington DC is even more unctuous than usual.
The Dalai Lama is a very influential political figure and a fixture of an international celebrity party circuit that sees him as a self-help guru. Lamaism is not Buddhism and neither is the Dalai Lama buddhist. He drinks alcohol, eats meat, and maintains many positions such as anti-gay that his otherwise politically correct crowd should find abhorrent. To Chinese he is a tool of the American government in its now more muted quest to change China. The Dalai Lama and his entourage of Tibet exile elites and their descendents live lavishly off the donations of morally righteous Westerners in stark contrast to the slums and squalor of his adopted home Dharamsala in India.
Labels: dalai lama, free tibet, hypocrisy
# posted by Sinomania! : 2/18/2010 04:15:00 PM