Riots in Tibet (The Official Current Events FREE TIBET thread)

[Mr. Clandestine]

this one time, at band camp...

Dude, I hate to pull this thread off topic, but what's up with the band camp opener?

Mr. Clandestine Reviewed by Mr. Clandestine on 03-19-2008. Riots in Tibet (The Official Current Events FREE TIBET thread) Anyone watching this on the news? It is really fucking sad to see this happen to such a race of peaceful spiritual people. 80 deaths have been reported and I saw footage on TV of some Tibetan people attacking a man in the street simply for being Chinese. BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | 'Eighty killed' in Tibetan unrest Discuss. Rating: 5

[Breukelen advocaat]

His material highness

FAR FROM HIS HOLIER-THAN-ALL IMAGE, THE DALAI LAMA SUPPORTS SUCH QUESTIONABLE CAUSES AS INDIA'S NUCLEAR TESTING, SEX WITH PROSTITUTES AND ACCEPTING DONATIONS FROM A JAPANESE TERRORIST CULT.

BY CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS | The Dalai Lama has come out in support of the thermonuclear tests recently conducted by the Indian state, and has done so in the very language of the chauvinist parties who now control that state's affairs. The "developed" countries, he says, must realize that India is a major contender and should not concern themselves with its internal affairs. This is a perfectly realpolitik statement, so crass and banal and opportunist that it would not deserve any comment if it came from another source.

"Think different," says the ungrammatical Apple Computer advertisement that features the serene visage of His Holiness.

Among the untested assumptions of this billboard campaign is the widely and lazily held belief that "Oriental" religion is different from other faiths: less dogmatic, more contemplative, more ... transcendental. This blissful, thoughtless exceptionalism has been conveyed to the West through a succession of mediums and narratives, ranging from the pulp novel "Lost Horizon," by James Hilton (creator of Mr. Chips as well as Shangri-La), to the memoir "Seven Years in Tibet," by SS veteran Heinrich Harrer, prettified for the screen by Brad Pitt. China's foul conduct in an occupied land, combined with a Hollywood cult that almost exceeds the power of Scientology, has fused with weightless Maharishi and Bhagwan-type babble to create an image of an idealized Tibet and of a saintly god-king. So perhaps the Apple injunction to think differently is worth heeding.

The greatest triumph that modern PR can offer is the transcendent success of having your words and actions judged by your reputation, rather than the other way about. The "spiritual leader" of Tibet has enjoyed this unassailable status for some time now, becoming a byword and synonym for saintly and ethereal values. Why this doesn't put people on their guard I'll never know. But here are some other facts about the serene leader that, dwarfed as they are by his endorsement of nuclear weapons, are still worth knowing and still generally unknown.

• Shoko Asahara, leader of the Supreme Truth cult in Japan and spreader of sarin nerve gas on the Tokyo subway, donated 45 million rupees, or about 170 million yen (about $1.2 million), to the Dalai Lama and was rewarded for his efforts by several high-level meetings with the divine one.

• Steven Seagal, the robotic and moronic "actor" who gave us "Hard to Kill" and "Under Siege," has been proclaimed a reincarnated lama and a sacred vessel or "tulku" of Tibetan Buddhism. This decision, ratified by Penor Rinpoche, supreme head of the Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism, was initially received with incredulity by Richard Gere, who had hitherto believed himself to be the superstar most favored. "If someone's a tulku, that's great," he was quoted as saying. "But no one knows if that's true." How insightful, if only accidentally. At a subsequent Los Angeles appearance by the Dalai Lama, Seagal was seated in the front row and Gere two rows back, thus giving the latter's humility and submissiveness a day at the races. Suggestions that Seagal's fortune helped elevate him to the Himalayan status of tulku are not completely discounted even by some adepts and initiates.

• Supporters of the Dorge Shugden deity -- a "Dharma protector" and an ancient object of worship and propitiation in Tibet -- have been threatened with violence and ostracism and even death following the Dalai Lama's abrupt prohibition of this once-venerated godhead. A Swiss television documentary graphically intercuts footage of His Holiness, denying all knowledge of menace and intimidation, with scenes of his followers' enthusiastically promulgating "Wanted" posters and other paraphernalia of excommunication and persecution.

• While he denies being a Buddhist "Pope," the Dalai Lama is never happier than when brooding in a celibate manner on the sex lives of people he has never met. "Sexual misconduct for men and women consists of oral and anal sex," he has repeatedly said in promoting his book on these matters. "Using one's hand, that is sexual misconduct." But, as ever with religious stipulations, there is a nutty escape clause. "To have sexual relations with a prostitute paid by you and not by a third person does not constitute improper behavior." Not all of this can have been said just to placate Richard Gere, or to attract the royalties from "Pretty Woman."

I have talked to a few Dorge Shugden adherents, who seem sincere enough and who certainly seem frightened enough, but I can't go along with their insistence on the "irony" of all this.

Buddhism can be as hysterical and sanguinary as any other system that relies on faith and tribe. Lon Nol's Cambodian army was Buddhist at least in name. Solomon Bandaranaike, first elected leader of independent Sri Lanka, was assassinated by a Buddhist militant. It was Buddhist-led pogroms against the Tamils that opened the long and disastrous communal war that ruins Sri Lanka to this day. The gorgeously named SLORC, the military fascism that runs Burma, does so nominally as a Buddhist junta. I have even heard it whispered that in old Tibet, that pristine and contemplative land, the lamas were the allies of feudalism and unsmilingly inflicted medieval punishments such as blinding and flogging unto death. (bold mine)

Yet the entire Western mass media is uncritically at the service of a mere mortal who, at the very least, proclaims the utter nonsense of reincarnation and who affirms the sinister if not indeed crazy belief that death is but a stage in a grand cycle of what appears to be futility and subjection. What need, then, to worry about nuclear weaponry, or sectarian frenzy, or the sale of indulgences to men of the stamp of Steven Seagal? "Harmony" will doubtless kick in. During his visit to Beijing, our sentimental Baptist hypocrite of a president turned to his dictator host, recommended that he meet with the Dalai Lama and assured him that the two of them would get on well. That might easily turn out to be the case. Both are very much creatures of the material world.

SALON | July 13, 1998
Salon Newsreal | His material highness

[Mr. Clandestine]

His material highness

So the man has a few blemishes on his resume... are you perfect? I don't remember anyone ever making the claim that His Holiness was without flaws. He felt compassion for Shoko and his plight long before he orchestrated the sarin attack. How was he to know that Shoko would eventually become a terrorist? The two of them had many conversations that revolved around their religion, and eventually became confidants who shared a similar religion. I have friends who are addicted to hardcore drugs, but that doesn't mean I am, too. I'm not going to stop being their friend just because I don't agree with their ways. I may distance myself from them, but I won't shun them outright.

"Yet the entire Western mass media is uncritically at the service of a mere mortal who, at the very least, proclaims the utter nonsense of reincarnation and who affirms the sinister if not indeed crazy belief that death is but a stage in a grand cycle of what appears to be futility and subjection. " (Bold mine.)

Utter nonsense of reincarnation? Sinister/crazy belief that death is just a transcendent stage in the grand cycle of life? Can you say BIASED? :wtf:

Come on, I'm a Christian, and I don't agree with all of the Dalai Lamas philosophies... but who am I to say he's wrong? I can disagree with some of the decisions and statements he makes, and still RESPECT him as a compassionate human being. You've managed to pick out a few things he's done that others may view as objectionable. How about now you do some research on all of the noble and honorable achievements he's accomplished in his lifetime, then report back here when you've discovered and documented EVERY single accomplishment. See ya in a couple of years!

[McLeodGanja]

BY CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS | The Dalai Lama has come out in support of the thermonuclear tests recently conducted by the Indian state, and has done so in the very language of the chauvinist parties who now control that state's affairs. The "developed" countries, he says, must realize that India is a major contender and should not concern themselves with its internal affairs. This is a perfectly realpolitik statement, so crass and banal and opportunist that it would not deserve any comment if it came from another source.

Hmmm... I'm sure I heard the Dalai Lama say the word "developed" once too. So THAT's what he meant then!

I'll respond to the rest of the claims made in this random piece of internet freelance journalism, when I convinced that it holds any more credibility than Penn & Teller.

I loved the bit about Steven Seagal and Richard Gere though, I actually do hope that is true! Maybe Gere didn't get to be a "tulku" because shoving rodents up your bottom constitutes unnatural sex, and "tulku"'s don't do that kind of thing.

[McLeodGanja]

100 protestors surrenders to the Chinese authorities.

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Protesters 'surrender in Tibet'

BUT I don't think this is the end of it. Check this out!

BBC News Player - Protesters defiant in Tibet row

[Psycho4Bud]

I recall a debate in here about a year ago...wish to hell I could remember the thread. A member was stating that Tibet was doing GREAT under Chinese rule. LMAO!

Fact is, China views Buddhism as a threat and this is no more than an act of genocide. BAN THE OLYMPIC GAMES and watch what you buy! If it says "Made In China".....do everyone a favor and spend a few more bucks on a comparable product.

Have a good one!:jointsmile:

[yokinazu]

this one time, at band camp...

its a line from a movie i just watched again the other day. im not goin to say what movie. thats for you to figure out

After the 1997 release of film adaptation of Seven Years in Tibet, questions were raised about Harrer's Nazi past and Harrer acknowledged that his membership of the party had been a "stupid mistake." Since he was out of the country almost continuously during the Nazi period, he was not involved in illegal actions.

fact is that in 1938 herrer was imprisoned in india by british troops he may have been a soldier but not all soldiers are evil. oh and also there were thousands of SS troops and did much more than kill jews

Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama and the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, visited Pope John Paul II eight times, more than any other single dignitary. The Pope and the Dalai Lama often shared similar views and understood similar plights, both coming from peoples affected by communism and both being heads of religious bodies.

hmm... if the dali lama and the pope share similar veiws and understand similar plights while at the same time visiting some of the most evil dictators the world has ever seen this obviosly means that the pope is an advocate of human rights abuses.(the list is too long to post of the countries and people that pope john paul II visited so do your own google search)

[McLeodGanja]

Another embarrassment for the Chinese Administration as they start rolling troops into the Tibetan plateau, Gordon Brown the UK Prime Minister is arranging to have talks with the Dalai Lama over developing in the first instance a strategy to try to bring an end to the violence before it turns into something uglier.

[McLeodGanja]

They are not going to like this!

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | US lawmaker speaks out on Tibet

[McLeodGanja]

Interesting 10 minute news article and discussion about the Dalai Lama and his position as leader of Tibet in exile on Newsnight last night. You can view it here---->

BBC NEWS | Programmes | Newsnight

Not sure how long it stays on there so I would watch it before tonights edition at 22.30GMT.