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HHDL Taking A Leaf From The Pope!
ajani_mgo
Veteran
Alright I just saw it on my local TV... I think it's amusing! HHDL is on some interfaith conference I think...
I found an article online on it: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i6FXsaCp58kaPjnMBrSTyWaAn8gw
HHDL is thinking of allowing Tibetans to vote for their next Dalai Lama! China, of course, as usual, is against it, but I think it's really funny - HHDL is really one of the most progressive religious leaders around. It seems that he's learning from the Pope a little now... Elections!
Other alternatives he discussed for his succession are by seniority and the like - no more tulkus for the office of the Dalai Lama!
But I wonder, how will this affect the tradition of rebirth? Well, while HHDL may not necessarily be reborn again, and this 14th be the last of the rebirths, I still think it's worth a few chuckles and a little rethinking.
It might be political - to prevent any wish of China to appoint their own Dalai Lama after Tenzin Gyatzo's death. Indeed, we have a religious leader who doesn't fight the tides of history, and that is a rather Taoist/Eastern thought.
You know what? The Dalai Lama is a rather interesting chap.
I found an article online on it: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i6FXsaCp58kaPjnMBrSTyWaAn8gw
HHDL is thinking of allowing Tibetans to vote for their next Dalai Lama! China, of course, as usual, is against it, but I think it's really funny - HHDL is really one of the most progressive religious leaders around. It seems that he's learning from the Pope a little now... Elections!
Other alternatives he discussed for his succession are by seniority and the like - no more tulkus for the office of the Dalai Lama!
But I wonder, how will this affect the tradition of rebirth? Well, while HHDL may not necessarily be reborn again, and this 14th be the last of the rebirths, I still think it's worth a few chuckles and a little rethinking.
It might be political - to prevent any wish of China to appoint their own Dalai Lama after Tenzin Gyatzo's death. Indeed, we have a religious leader who doesn't fight the tides of history, and that is a rather Taoist/Eastern thought.
You know what? The Dalai Lama is a rather interesting chap.
0
Comments
Whatever the outcome for Tibet, it has been clear since the 1950s that the old, feudal system that obtained there is no longer sustainable. It is no longer acceptable for such intimate confusion between 'church' and state. This is why HHDL is preparing a transition from theocracy (or lamaocracy if you prefer) to democracy.
Historically, it is a relatively recent development that the Dalai Lama has also been Head of State, a mere 5 or 600 years. In the modern world, with democracy the present dominant political fashion, it seems to many Tibetans with whom I correspond that the system that puts one particular person at the head of the state by birth is anachronistic.
HHDL is not suggesting that there be no further tulkus, nor that there be no further Dalai, Karmapa or Punchen Lamas. Rather he is saying that Tibet deserves a modern system of government, secular and independent. The leadership and governance of Buddhism of the Tibetan traditions would not be affected.
It seems to me that he is, as ever, voicing a moderate, reflected and wise compromise.
::
Well, I've got to be kidding myself. I was expecting that they would be outraged, angry at him for abandoning centuries of age-old Tibetan wisdom and culture, but then well, they shouldn't be strangers to his modern views by now.
I like the Buddha's saying of the raft to be abandoned after reaching the shore - it works for many occasions, not just Nirvana alone - perhaps Buddhism does embrace progressiveness and adaptation very much, as is practised by HHDL.