Theos-Talk Archives (April 1995 Message tl00092)

The conflict in Tibet goes back at least one thousand years;
Tucci's excellent survey of Tibetan buddhist history includes a
chronological chart evidencing shifting territories.  The
dispute, therefore, is nothing new; the means exercised by the
Chiense, are utterly barbaric.  In volume III of his Masks of God
series, Joseph Campbell intersperses excerts from the Tibetan
Book of the Dead concerning tortures of the hell realm with eye
witness reports of Tibetan refugess concerning Chiense treatment
of Tibetans.

I have very mixed feelings about Tibetan Buddhism.  It's core
teachings are extraordinary, and we see a culture organized
around the bodhisattva mythos.  And we also see a lot of Asian
Traditional Religious superstition.  Avoidance and denail on the
part of monks to speak English to practice nothing more
complicated than C.Y.A.  makes not only for boring talks, but
perpetuates the "full package deal" Japense, Chinese and Tibetan
teachers run - in short, you cann't get to the essence of the
teaching without taking on the culture, including becoming fluent
in their language.  I always remind them that the Buddha did not
speak their language, nor was he a member of their culture.  The
excuse concerning Tibetan language's higher vibratory quality is
pure hogwash, as it the rationale for putting up with a bad show
by excusing it as "the importance of being in the presence of a
lama, rimpoche, or what have you."

I hate to sound nasty.  The truth of the matter is that at age
fifty I've been a buddhist for 30 years, studied with some of the
great teachers from around Asia, hold a MA in buddhist studies
along with ordination and transmission of teaching authority
(kyoshi) from one of the majro buddhist traditions (whose leader,
like the Dalai Lama, is believed to be an manifestation of
avalokitesvara); I'm also a Free Initiator of the Martinist
tradition, consecrated in Gnostic Christianity, and master
several Rosicrucian systems.  And it still costs $1.50 for a cafe
lattee!!! The titles really mean little to me; but in that time
I've seen about all there is to be seen.  Honest people are a
source of gratitude - when and where you find them - especially
in nspiritual roles.  roles.  Politics, backstabbing, tretchery,
hidden agends, fraud, crime - you name it, are human all too
human and widely prevalent.

The Dalai Lama is a great man in a caged bird role.  Quite
frankly, Thich Nhat Hnan, Sulak Sivaraksa, and Akegarasua Haya
are tremendous teachers as well, all concerned with individual
and social transmutation.  So is the Rosicrucian Dream.  over
glorifying a particular country or over indulging in mythology so
that it becomes superstition are barries we must break out of on
our spiritual journey to Freedom and Liberation.

As a last note, Tibet is a cause celebre among the rich and
famous right now.  Meanwhile Ahn Su, still under house arrest in
Burma, a great buddhist woman writer, was awarded the Nobel peace
prize about 8 years ago; her son had to accept it in her behalf.
her husband, a harvard professor as i recall.  I highly recommned
that letters to officials in Occupied Washington demand her
release.

gassho,

Ken O'Neill