South Africa Won't Grant Visa to Dalai Lama

Dakini

The Dalai Lama applied for a visa some months ago to visit South Africa, but has not yet received a response from the government of South Africa. From the NY TImes:

"South Africa's failure to issue a visa to the Dalai Lama, or even respond to his repeated requests for one, was sharply criticized on Wednesday by the Dalai Lama and by Desmond Tutu. The two men called the failure disrespectful. The Dalai Lama hoped to travel to South Africa to attend an 80th birthday party on October 7 for Archbishop Tutu, a fellow Nobel laureate and anti-apartheid champion. The criticism did not address the reason for the official inaction. But it has been clear for some time that the South African government is reluctant to grant the visa for fear of angering China, one of the country's most important trading partners and investors."

Cloud

What can ya say, it's China. In a hundred years it'll be some other nation that's doing everything wrong and puttin' every other nation off.

ThailandTom

Man, His holiness has had it tough from China from day dot, but he still smiles 99% of the time, I wonder why ... :screwy:

Just to add, I know we should not live or put too much feelings/thoughts to the future, but I am originally from England, and i can see the west totally falling sometime in the not too distant future and a certain someone filling the void.

Dakini

Yes, economically speaking, Tom, I think that's a major concern.

The Dalai Lama knows our enemies are also our teachers.
He also doesn't smile so much when he's in Asia, as he does when he visits the West.

Ch-an_noob

The world is impermanent. Guess changes must be accepted. I believe if all the highly cultivated Buddhist venerable masters from Taiwan manages to bring back the practice to main land China again, everything will be okay again.

Politics tend to make things worse, relying on the west seems to make the issue more political than spritual.

I believe the best hope for the world is the fusion of Chinese and Western culture. Positive aspects of both cultures cancel out the negative aspects of both cultures.

Ch-an_noob

Master Hsing Yun have made some eloquent opinions on the Tibetan matter.

http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=21047

"One of Taiwan's most influential Buddhist monks urged China on Friday to turn Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, "from an enemy into a friend" in the wake of unrest in the Himalayan region."

"Hsing Yun urged China to take the Dalai Lama seriously, saying the Tibetan god-king is "very sincere" when he says he wants autonomy, not independence, for his homeland, albeit China does not believe him.

The Dalai Lama cannot unilaterally decide Tibet's fate, Hsing Yun said. The Tibet Youth Congress, the radical wing of the Tibetan community in exile, has challenged the Dalai Lama's "middle way" policy of non-violence."

Master Hsing Yun is also very clear on the danger of mixing religion and politics in a negative way.

http://www.thesnowlion.com/september032009.html

"On Tuesday, Buddhist Master Hsing Yun was quoted as saying during a joint interview with journalists from China that the procedure for the Dalai Lama's visit was wrong, as was the time and place of his visit, because he was not invited by representatives from disaster zones.

Hsing Yun said the whole thing was political manipulation.

"These are disaster zones, so he should have been invited by representatives of the hard-hit areas ?without an invitation from local disaster areas, it is nothing short of a political manipulation beyond religious purposes," Hsing Yun said."

Dakini

Thanks for this, Ch'an Noob. Interesting to think that a Buddhist leader in Taiwan might function as an intermediary between the DL and China. Not sure China would go for that, but it's nice to see this reconciliation effort.

According to the Snow Lion article, the DL was invited to Taiwan by local "chiefs" in the disaster area, so I don't know why Hsing Yun is saying otherwise. However, the majority of the population in the disaster area, AFAIK, is aboriginal, not Chinese. Some of them are Christians. Others may still practice their traditional religion, I don't think too many are Buddhists. Maybe it was local Chinese who invited him? There's more to this picture than meets the eye.