sahtouris
03-21-2008, 10:12 AM
Hello,
I'm the person who has the one-liner in the film saying "We all have our own Tibets."
This morning I received a commentary on the current situation in Tibet that was forwarded to me, calling it "An objective and reasoned assessment of the future of the liberation of Tibet by a Republican insider and an Ayn Randian/Von Misesian philosopher who knows, loves, and admires the Dalai Lama." You will have to guess at its content from my response, which I wanted to share here, as I do not have permission from Jack Wheeler, the author of the piece, which he called Monkeys in Tibet referring to the Chinese occupation troops by this epithet which he heard used in Tibet (the article may be posted online).
Here is my response to it, written to the friend who passed it on to me:
Did you really find this piece objective and reasoned? I thought objective and reasoned meant looking coolly at all sides of an issue. Wheeler's language (monkeys, 'squishes', treacherous wimps, Genocide Olympics, etc. etc.) is anything but cool, and he makes no bones about his side. I think the Dalai Lama is insulted by the accusation that he is prisoner of his own government in exile. He chose that govt; I was there and met all 60 or so members of it along with him [when DL Renaissance was filmed] and I believe he is right in calling for en end to ALL violence on both sides. As a true Buddhist he cannot condone it. He also understands, as do I, the immense frustration of the Tibetan youth..of all Tibetans.
I have also read the Dalai Lama's autobiography, understand what he respected in Mao, why he wants an amicable settlement with the Chinese. I do NOT understand why the Chinese leadership cannot see this possibility themselves. I deplore their stance and their violence. I also know that Wheeler's kind of slander attack on them will serve only to harden their position (see later) and THAT is why I deplore it, too.
I understand something of why the Chinese have seen their rule of Tibet as a liberation because I was taken to their Tibet Museum in Beijing in 1974 and saw the endless photos of the cruelty that was the medieval Tibet the Dalai Lama himself acknowledged and wanted to bring out of darkness. I also read The Timely Rain by an English couple who lived in Tibet during the occupation's favorable view of the Chinese intent at that time to end the hideous maiming of people (eyes gouged out, hands cut off, etc.) for stealing a piece of bread; the high life of the Lamas who taxed and ruled them. It was NOT enlightened spirituality there when the Chinese went in by force (we Americans are good at idolizing). The Chinese DID see themselves as liberating an embarrassingly backward part of China at a time when all China was newly eating, no longer starving, prostitution and sale of children ended, etc. because of a truly amazing revolution. There is no doubt that this revolution was perverted in Tibet and elsewhere, but I am talking of the motivation at the time China went in as liberators.
Like the Dalai Lama, I stand in the understanding that violence is not the answer. Nor is the kind of name calling Wheeler engages in. The appeal to the Chinese MUST be to their higher instincts, not their lower ones. Before I went to China I read all I could about them and their ways, their cultural psychology. I very much took to heart reading that they can never be pushed into doing something, but that they do listen to reason and can be talked into things. I used that psychology again and again as a gentle diplomacy and it worked every time.
Of course the Dalai Lama cannot do that on his own in the current climate, much as he tries. The Chinese simply cannot stand to lose face (is that so unique?); they must be given a diplomatic way out of losing face if they are to be brought to talk to the Dalai Lama....Can we put our heads together on how he might be helped to do that?
The Dalai Lama needs mass support for HIS proposals of amicable settlement. Calling the Olympics "the Genocide Olympics" is so wrong... the Olympics Board is sworn to a non-political stance. Can't we come together in a better strategy to encourage dialogue????
I have taken the Bodhisattva Vow with HHDL as so many - probably thousands - have, and I continue to try to find peaceful resolution ideas in all situations. I spot inflammatory writing quickly and do not condone it on any side of any issue. Thanks for listening. I look forward to seeing gracious and diplomatic proposals for how we can support dialogue between HHDL and the Chinese authorities before things get even worse!
I'm the person who has the one-liner in the film saying "We all have our own Tibets."
This morning I received a commentary on the current situation in Tibet that was forwarded to me, calling it "An objective and reasoned assessment of the future of the liberation of Tibet by a Republican insider and an Ayn Randian/Von Misesian philosopher who knows, loves, and admires the Dalai Lama." You will have to guess at its content from my response, which I wanted to share here, as I do not have permission from Jack Wheeler, the author of the piece, which he called Monkeys in Tibet referring to the Chinese occupation troops by this epithet which he heard used in Tibet (the article may be posted online).
Here is my response to it, written to the friend who passed it on to me:
Did you really find this piece objective and reasoned? I thought objective and reasoned meant looking coolly at all sides of an issue. Wheeler's language (monkeys, 'squishes', treacherous wimps, Genocide Olympics, etc. etc.) is anything but cool, and he makes no bones about his side. I think the Dalai Lama is insulted by the accusation that he is prisoner of his own government in exile. He chose that govt; I was there and met all 60 or so members of it along with him [when DL Renaissance was filmed] and I believe he is right in calling for en end to ALL violence on both sides. As a true Buddhist he cannot condone it. He also understands, as do I, the immense frustration of the Tibetan youth..of all Tibetans.
I have also read the Dalai Lama's autobiography, understand what he respected in Mao, why he wants an amicable settlement with the Chinese. I do NOT understand why the Chinese leadership cannot see this possibility themselves. I deplore their stance and their violence. I also know that Wheeler's kind of slander attack on them will serve only to harden their position (see later) and THAT is why I deplore it, too.
I understand something of why the Chinese have seen their rule of Tibet as a liberation because I was taken to their Tibet Museum in Beijing in 1974 and saw the endless photos of the cruelty that was the medieval Tibet the Dalai Lama himself acknowledged and wanted to bring out of darkness. I also read The Timely Rain by an English couple who lived in Tibet during the occupation's favorable view of the Chinese intent at that time to end the hideous maiming of people (eyes gouged out, hands cut off, etc.) for stealing a piece of bread; the high life of the Lamas who taxed and ruled them. It was NOT enlightened spirituality there when the Chinese went in by force (we Americans are good at idolizing). The Chinese DID see themselves as liberating an embarrassingly backward part of China at a time when all China was newly eating, no longer starving, prostitution and sale of children ended, etc. because of a truly amazing revolution. There is no doubt that this revolution was perverted in Tibet and elsewhere, but I am talking of the motivation at the time China went in as liberators.
Like the Dalai Lama, I stand in the understanding that violence is not the answer. Nor is the kind of name calling Wheeler engages in. The appeal to the Chinese MUST be to their higher instincts, not their lower ones. Before I went to China I read all I could about them and their ways, their cultural psychology. I very much took to heart reading that they can never be pushed into doing something, but that they do listen to reason and can be talked into things. I used that psychology again and again as a gentle diplomacy and it worked every time.
Of course the Dalai Lama cannot do that on his own in the current climate, much as he tries. The Chinese simply cannot stand to lose face (is that so unique?); they must be given a diplomatic way out of losing face if they are to be brought to talk to the Dalai Lama....Can we put our heads together on how he might be helped to do that?
The Dalai Lama needs mass support for HIS proposals of amicable settlement. Calling the Olympics "the Genocide Olympics" is so wrong... the Olympics Board is sworn to a non-political stance. Can't we come together in a better strategy to encourage dialogue????
I have taken the Bodhisattva Vow with HHDL as so many - probably thousands - have, and I continue to try to find peaceful resolution ideas in all situations. I spot inflammatory writing quickly and do not condone it on any side of any issue. Thanks for listening. I look forward to seeing gracious and diplomatic proposals for how we can support dialogue between HHDL and the Chinese authorities before things get even worse!
