Theos-Talk Archives (April 1995 Message tl00091)

LieselFD@aol.com writes:

> abandoning Buddhism.  They may or may not really have in mind to
> kill the Dalai Lama.  That wouldn't do much good.  because if
> they kill the present Dalai Lama, (hopefully, he's being
> protected) the Tibetans in Dharmsala, & all over the world now,
> would find another reincarnation of the Dalai Lama.

Before the Chinese occupation, the Tibetans themselves did quite
an effective job of killing off the various Dalai Lamas, mainly
by poisoning.  Not many Dalai Lamas reached the age of majority
for this reason - the Regents wanted to keep ruling as they had
done for the young lamas.

As you say, if the Chinese govt.  had him assassinated, the DL
would incarnate again, probably.  He always has before.

This whole thing is very distressing, including for someone like
me, who sympathizes with the Chinese people in general (though
not all the policies of their government.) There is so much of
value in Chinese culture, but they really put themselves in a bad
light here.  The government is very sensitive to criticism, which
the DL gives them.

One positive effect of the occupation, is that it has
disseminated Tibetan buddhism through out the world in a way that
nothing else would have.  Previously, Tibet was very insular.
One friend of ours (a theosophist, but with many unique ideas of
his own) has the interesting theory that the conflict between
Tibet and China is caused by a conflict between the two national
devas, or guardian spirits.  He thinks that spiritually, the
Tibetan one is actually stronger, and that annoys the hell out of
the Chinese one.

> Poor Tibetans in TiIbet, I wonder whether we could start a public
> outcry campaign.  We could write to the Chinese Embassy in
> Washinton.  I'll try to get

They are basically suffering a kind of genocide, much like the
indigenous peoples in our respective countries did when the
Europeans invaded...oops, I mean settled.  How would Americans,
or Australians feel about Indian activists claiming separate
sovereignty, and embarking on a campaign of civil disobediance?
I'm not apologizing for the Chinese, just pointing out that other
cultures and ethic groups have done the same thing, and quite
recently, although mostly before the "human rights" norms had
developed through the UN Charter, and various conventions.

Am doing a course in "lucid dreaming" at the moment, as promoted
by Stephen La Berge.  Heard of him? Anyway, he draws quite
extensively on the meditative practices of the Tibetan buddhist
traditions, which aim at continuity of consciousness 24 hours a
day, to comprehend the nature of dreaming, and to understand the
dream-like aspect of our waking world.

I'm getting long-winded, just right for this list :-)...  Better
sign off now,

ASTREA