Posted on 07/30/2005 5:54:32 PM PDT by cornelis
Dalai Lama rejects theory of clash of civilizations
Photo : AFP ROME (AFP) - The Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama rejected the concept of a clash of civilizations, calling it "false and dangerous."
"In every religion there are people who create problems," he told reporters in the Adriatic Sea beach resort of Rimini, where he accepted an invitation from city fathers to visit for the third time since 1991, and where he has been made an honorary citizen.
"There are radical Muslims, radical Buddhists and radical Hindus," he said, calling it "wrong to generalize and criminalize" a religious community because of the actions of some of its members.
The idea of an evolving war between the west and other civilizations, predominantly Muslim, was first propounded by Samuel P. Huntington in "The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order."
The Dalai Lama, a winner of the Nobel Prize for peace, said without mentioning the book explicitly, "I criticize those who speak of a clash of civilizations between Islam and Western civilization. I think it is false and dangerous."
The Buddhist spiritual leader, who planned to give several speeches on spiritual and ethical issues during a European tour, lives in exile in the Indian Himalayan town of Dharamsala.
He acknowledged that the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States and other terrorist actions were tragic and world-shaking, but suggested that for the vast majority of people, life goes on as usual.
"To tell you the truth, we did not feel all these shocks in Dharamsala," he said. "And you in Rimini, do you feel that something has changed, or do you not lead the same life as always."
I guess you could see it that way. As usual in a democratic age, there is a minority who knows the demos better than themselves.
A looper, you know, a caddy, a looper, a jock. So, I tell them I'm a pro jock, and who do you think they give me?
The Dalai Lama, himself. Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald... striking.
So, I'm on the first tee with him. I give him the driver. He hauls off and whacks one---big hitter, the Lama---long, into a ten-thousand foot crevasse, right at the base of this glacier. Do you know what the Lama says?
Gunga galunga... gunga, gunga-galunga.
So we finish the eighteenth and he's gonna stiff me. And I say, "Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know."
And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consiousness." So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.
When was the last time that Buddhists engaged in terrorism? Get a clue Lama, jihad isn't a case of "a few bad apples" which can be found in any religion. It is a result of inherent tendencies within Islam itself. The sooner the rest of the world realizes this, the better. It is a class of civilizations, including the Dalai Lama's own. Jihadis will just as gladly kill a Buddhist as they will kill a Christian.
Recently Victor Davis Hanson suggest why the militants target the West and not India or China. His answer, because they go after the weak.
No, the Dalai Lama does not play golf," says Lama Kunga. He looks disappointed. Last year, when the Dalai Lama was visiting the Bay Area, Lama Kunga considered dragging him to the driving range. Then he thought better of it. "One day I will say, 'Your Holiness, I would like to tell you about golf,' " Lama Kunga says. "He will be happy to know I play. He is very busy making the world a better place, but I think he could use the exercise."On the way to the course, the lama expounds on the link between golf and Buddhism. In both religions, one comes face to face with the Four Noble Truths. The first truth holds that suffering is unavoidable.
"The second," the lama says, "is that the origins of suffering come from anger, frustration, self-consciousness. If you play golf, you know what I mean." (The third and fourth truths may not fix your slice, but they do explain how to get rid of all this pesky suffering.)
Just then, the transmission in my Geo begins to suffer. We hit a congested merge, but the stick is stuck. A big rig roars behind us, blaring its horn. But the lama stays serene, gazing peacefully over the dashboard.
"I'm sorry," I say. "I'd hate to be responsible for the death of a high lama." "That would be bad karma," he replies.
I can't tell if he's making a pun.
We sputter the rest of the way in the breakdown lane. Outside the course entrance, the car gasps and dies. I get out and push. The lama steers. When we park, I kick the tires and curse.
"If it can be fixed, it is not a problem," says the lama. "If it cannot be fixed, it is not a problem." He is sounding a lot like my mechanic. Still, he's right. The sun is shining. We're playing golf.
Not because we have that unfinished business with them regarding false prophets and rights to the Holy Land?
Here's a theory: the clash is not between Christianity and Islam at all. The Muslims, known for sandstorm vision, may think so, but we who watch Christian rights disintegrate in this country should know better. The clash is between secular democratic humanism and organic, religious, ordered toward sainthood worldview. When they are done with them Muslim, they'll go after us Christians.
I pray for those who reject Our Lord Jesus Christ and embrace and profess Buddhism. I know it is false and dangerous.
Goodvye Dalai!
The Cold War was, in part, a struggle for secular ascendancy, but politics must be understood and handled as a web of vortices that is generated by the most basic human instincts to be the boss--as individual sovereignty most nearly expresses the imago Dei, it seems--irrespective of party or religion.
Buddists are clueless as far as dealing with the real world. You'd think the Dali Lama would have woke up and smelled the coffee when the Taliban blew up the statues of Buddah, but no, he still doesn't get it. Hindus have a much better chance of surviving the Muslim onslaught. When Muslim burn a Hindu holy site in India, Hindus burn down a Muslim town. This direct approach works well for them.
Most every type and kind of people group tends to be clueless in some area in favor of their specialty. It seems to be the special preference of a minority leadership to take advantage of those blind spots in a majority. Of course, they themselves are not exempt, but they have the advantage, in part, and know it.
Good point about the Cold War.
Modern China is not a secular cultural force. It is secular by default, not militantly so. The Soviet Union of old, and now the Americanized West, represent a secular worldview capable of both cultural and military dominance. Plus, now the mullahs cannot play the First World against the Second World, so they are naturally worried.
Individual sovereignty is a red herring in this new alignment. Between the Soviet Union and the West, it was a useful distinguishing characteristic. Now both the secularists and the religionists claim it, the religionists with greater justification, because, indeed, when God is out of the picture, so is the individual Man.
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