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Dalai Lama steps down as Tibetan leader
DhammaDhatu
Veteran
Updated 2 hours 4 minutes ago
Dalai Lama set to retire from exiled government
The Dalai Lama has announced he is stepping down as political leader of the Tibetan government in exile.
He says the time has come for his replacement by a "freely elected" leader.
The Dalai Lama, whose more significant role is as the movement's spiritual leader, said he would seek an amendment allowing him to resign his political office when the exiled Tibetan parliament meets next week.
"My desire to devolve authority has nothing to do with a wish to shirk responsibility," he said in an address in Dharamshala, the seat of the Tibetan government in exile in northern India.
"It is to benefit Tibetans in the long run. It is not because I feel disheartened."
The Dalai Lama was 15 when he was appointed head of state in 1950 after Chinese troops moved into Tibet. He fled his homeland in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.
The 75-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner has long talked of stepping down from what is a largely ceremonial role, while maintaining his more important position as the spiritual figurehead of the Tibetan movement.
"As early as the 1960s, I have repeatedly stressed that Tibetans need a leader, elected freely by the Tibetan people, to whom I can devolve power," he said.
"Now, we have clearly reached the time to put this into effect."
In his address marking the anniversary of the 1959 uprising, the Dalai Lama made it clear he would not be withdrawing from the political struggle and remained "committed to playing my part in the just cause of Tibet".
Despite his advancing age and several health scares, the Dalai Lama maintains a punishing travel schedule as the global face of the Tibetan struggle.
Spiritual and secular loyalty to his leadership is steadfast and he is the adhesive that binds together the various factions within the movement, some of whom favour a more radical agenda than the Dalai Lama's non-violent campaign for autonomy within the Chinese state.
In today's speech, the Dalai Lama said he had received "repeated and earnest" appeals from inside and outside Tibet to provide continued political leadership.
The London-based International Campaign for Tibet said the Dalai Lama's announcement underlined his democratic credentials.
"In contrast to those long-serving autocrats who have been much in the news, the Dalai Lama is the rare visionary who is willingly divesting power to his people," said ICT president Mary Beth Markey.
"His decision, based on the maturation of Tibetan democracy in exile, deserves both accolades and support."
- AFP
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/03/10/3160669.htm
Dalai Lama set to retire from exiled government
The Dalai Lama has announced he is stepping down as political leader of the Tibetan government in exile.
He says the time has come for his replacement by a "freely elected" leader.
The Dalai Lama, whose more significant role is as the movement's spiritual leader, said he would seek an amendment allowing him to resign his political office when the exiled Tibetan parliament meets next week.
"My desire to devolve authority has nothing to do with a wish to shirk responsibility," he said in an address in Dharamshala, the seat of the Tibetan government in exile in northern India.
"It is to benefit Tibetans in the long run. It is not because I feel disheartened."
The Dalai Lama was 15 when he was appointed head of state in 1950 after Chinese troops moved into Tibet. He fled his homeland in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.
The 75-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner has long talked of stepping down from what is a largely ceremonial role, while maintaining his more important position as the spiritual figurehead of the Tibetan movement.
"As early as the 1960s, I have repeatedly stressed that Tibetans need a leader, elected freely by the Tibetan people, to whom I can devolve power," he said.
"Now, we have clearly reached the time to put this into effect."
In his address marking the anniversary of the 1959 uprising, the Dalai Lama made it clear he would not be withdrawing from the political struggle and remained "committed to playing my part in the just cause of Tibet".
Despite his advancing age and several health scares, the Dalai Lama maintains a punishing travel schedule as the global face of the Tibetan struggle.
Spiritual and secular loyalty to his leadership is steadfast and he is the adhesive that binds together the various factions within the movement, some of whom favour a more radical agenda than the Dalai Lama's non-violent campaign for autonomy within the Chinese state.
In today's speech, the Dalai Lama said he had received "repeated and earnest" appeals from inside and outside Tibet to provide continued political leadership.
The London-based International Campaign for Tibet said the Dalai Lama's announcement underlined his democratic credentials.
"In contrast to those long-serving autocrats who have been much in the news, the Dalai Lama is the rare visionary who is willingly divesting power to his people," said ICT president Mary Beth Markey.
"His decision, based on the maturation of Tibetan democracy in exile, deserves both accolades and support."
- AFP
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/03/10/3160669.htm
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Comments
Separation of powers is by far the most logical and sensible course of action to follow.
@Shift, I think that's why he's doing it. To pre-empt Chinese action.....
I have heard of many stories of lamas rescinding their authority or retiring from their careers, only to pass on a few weeks/months later. It's their way of writing a will. So as someone who calls HHDL a guru and as someone who tries to practice whatever HHDL teaches, I cannot help but feel a bit worried.
And the point of pre-empting Chinese action is very valid.
I know he has had health problems, but I think they have been manageable, and that everything is under good control, now....
I really do think he is acting while everything is fine, to avoid confusion, dissent and upheaval later through lack of planning.
rather like the adage:
"Plan ahead - it wasn't actually raining yet, when Noah built the ark....."
By separating the duties/responsibilities, political negotiation with China can be done on an equal, non-religiously fuelled position, and politics can get the "guns" out, whereas before, a Spiritual leader had to be more placid, passive and compassionately considerate.
In short, Politics will not be hindered by a conflict of interests.
as to a Spiritual Leader, the Chinese may well try to impose their own choice of Dalai Lama, but the overall impact of this will not be as significant, as if the Dalai Lama was also still the political leader.
I think it's a clever move.
Be discerning of what you read from some Western media. Both the Chinese and the West have their own agenda.
The main reason I can think of why the China occupies Tibet is it's strategic location. Controlling Tibet means having a military advantage against its neighbors on her Western side, thus giving them greater political power geographically.
I mean, really, is it??
I thought attachment is not kosher for Buddhist types. Tibet is as big
a deal as Taiwan to China. Two dogs fighting over a bone. And Fed is incredulous?
Come on, people. Are we Buddhists or what?
do you mean you should detach youself from your parents and not care about them? same to your children?
???
Two peoples fighting for a way of life? Do you know what actually happened to the Tibetan people when the Chinese invaded and during the Cultural Revolution?
I understand what you're saying about detachment, but this issue is a political time-bomb, and shook the very core of Tibetan civilisation. it's been a massive issue regarding Human Rights since the 1950's. The inhuman, barbaric and abominable treatment meted out to Tibetans by the Chinese is something that cannot simply be dealt with by 'detachment'.
Really, wise up.
Your comments are entirely inappropriate, misguided and to say they're simplistic is a gross understatement. "ignorance" doesn't cover it.....
As far as Tibet being "widely recognized" as independent prior to the 1950's, I'm not sure that's true. Westerners who were schooled in the earlier part of the 20th Century learned that Tibet was part of China. Sure, Tibet had its own currency, issued its own stamps. But this is a murky question. One reason the West didn't come to Tibet's aid is that the matter was open to question, and of course, no one wanted to take on the PLA. The question of Tibetans' ethnogenesis is much more complex than this. Sedentary Tibetans are related to the Chinese. The nomads, around the northern and eastern periphery of old Tibet are a mix of ancient Indo-European or Iranian, and Altaic (Turko-Mongol). Genetic studies have confirmed what Tibetologists have been saying for generations. The language also reflects this North Asian/South Asian split; the grammar is Altaic while most of the vocab and of course the tonal system are related to Chinese.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110307/wl_nm/us_china_npc_tibet
HHDL is obviously a wise and honourable human being who shows compassion which is beyond comprehension of most of us. He has a sense of humour, something that most religious leaders seem to lack. He is up there with Gandhi, Steve Biko and others, who represent the best side of humanity.
Yet, is it wise to accept blindly that he is the reincarnation of all previous Dalai Lamas? I do find it difficult to conceptualise that if we are all human and not deity's, how there can be a direct lineage through reincarnation. Also, HHDL does have some dogmatic and very Traditional views related to Tibetan Buddhism.... some of which in my heart of hearts I believe are not consistent with Buddha's teachings.
Nationalism, in whatever form tends to create division and many Tibetans are very nationalist and their reverence to HHDL may be related. I can only speculate, but my guess is that HHDL understands this and he may think that it is important to distance his beliefs with his role as a political leader.
Of course China and its political leaders are very misguided and clearly wrong in so many regards.....and I think it is important that we are highly critical. But no more critical than we should be for many of the leaders in the West who masquerade as democrats, when they are as self-interested and dangerous as the Chinese leadership.
In my opinion we should view HHDL as a wise and compassionate human being but maybe being a spiritual leader of a particular Buddhist viewpoint may not ultimately be a path that leads to Buddhahood.