East Asian Religion

• Dalai Lama: A Simple Buddhist Monk 
• Thich Nhat Hanh: A Radio Pilgrimage   Vietnamese proponent of "engaged Buddhism"

And this nice little quote from a 2003 article asks why it is that he steadfastly avoids making any remarks that might offend or alienate his US patrons,

Certainly it is not a case of a lack of intelligence on the part of the Dalai Lama. Indeed, as he spoke at his Cambridge press conference on September 12, talking authoritatively about the interconnectedness of cosmology, neurobiology, psychology, and physics, it was clear he is streets ahead of most of us in his intellectual powers.

So, given his intelligence and enormous sense of compassion, why doesn't the Dalai Lama question the leader of the free world about the downside of globalization? About "Star Wars II" and the Bush administration's flagrant disregard of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty? About the unlawful attack on Iraq? Civilian body counts? Why doesn't he even pose such questions rhetorically in the media? Could it really be that this esteemed 68-year-old monk is so focused on inner change (and the external environment as it pertains to scientific phenomena) that he hasn't done his homework on the big political issues? When it comes to geopolitical and global economic matters, is the Dalai Lama living in peaceful ignorance in the suburbs of reality?

All of this should help clarify why some of us, including me, are rather skeptical of the Dalai Lama, who seems to be more interested in abstractions and ego-petting philosophy for urban and suburban American elites than in the real, nasty and violent reality that surrounds him.  Ironically, we see here a Buddhist who wishes to balance an illusion of modern "Engaged Buddhism" with a Machiavellian real politique. 

Furthermore, the lost Tibetan culture he defends was an oppressive form of monastic feudalism.  This system was scarcely better than slavery, and the Chinese Communists effectively eliminated it. 

The role of the Dalai Lama was head of a particular school of Tibetan Buddhism and a particular monastery.  One of the great ironies of history is that the office of Dalai Lama, the chief priest ruling all the other lamas in Tibet, was originally established by a Chinese army about 6 centuries ago, and then greatly reinforced after his government went into exile.  Although the current Dalai Lama seems to have learned a great deal about morality, the idea of recreating a religious monarch in Tibet is questionable.  It is also worth noting that Buddhism is not without its own dark history, though many thinkers like to present an inaccurate vision of Buddhism as a religion of peace immune to the abuses of human rights we have seen in the histories of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

The Chinese government has been encouraging a divisive sect of Tibetan Buddhism known as the New Kadampa Tradition (NKT).  Interestingly, this competing tradition has quite a few branches here in the USA and around the world (900 in total).  Their practice focuses on the Tibetan protective deity Dorje Shugden.  In May of 2006 Chinese news sources accused the Dalai Lama of inciting the destruction of images of Dorje Shugden in order to undermine this sect of Buddhism.    The Dalai Lama's current sect is an offshoot of the Jonang school, and is centered on the Kalachakra initiation.  This sectarian article from a follower of the Dalai Lama's tradition explains their stance on the conflict in terms that sound surprisingly familiar to those acquainted with the history of iconoclasm in the Near East.  They are calling Dorje Shugden a false god.