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U.K. journalist Johann Hari interviews a hostile Dalai Lama.
...the Dalai Lama has suggested that Tibetans are being punished for their "bad karma". Can this be true, Your Holiness? "Yes. Of course. We are punished for feudalism. Every event is due to one's karma." So, are disabled children being punished for sins in a past life? "Oh yes. Of course."
...the Dalai Lama has suggested that Tibetans are being punished for their "bad karma". Can this be true, Your Holiness? "Yes. Of course. We are punished for feudalism. Every event is due to one's karma." So, are disabled children being punished for sins in a past life? "Oh yes. Of course."
Dogo Barry Graham
• I'm just a man trying to live life with kindness and without causing harm - a daily vow and a daily failure.
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• I'm from Scotland, but have wandered far, and now live in Phoenix, Arizona, where the orange blossom meets the smog.
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Comments
You know I didn't buy that shit when my mom was selling it and I don't buy it now. I like some of things the Dalai Lama says but like every other religious leader I've seen he then misses the most important truths entirely. It's like they get so high from getting a few things right that they then decide to jump off a cliff convinced that the feeling of falling is actually them flying.
More often than not, it is instead used for the purposes of consolation or distraction in the here and now, or for rationalizing the shitty things that live humans do to other live humans in the here and now.
Also, it is false.
First off, the feudalism thing? I think he's onto something. If Tibet weren't such a backwards feudal theocracy it wouldn't have been nearly such an easy target for China. Tibet repeatedly rejected attempts to modernize, and refused membership in the UN. As a result, Tibet had little means to defend itself, and no strong ties to allies to call for help. So what is happening to Tibet now is in many ways a consequence of that. Not all, but many.
Secondly, the bit with the disabled children that's upset everyone (understandably) is referring to a fairly common practice in Tibetan Buddhism (which is why the translator insisted it was "for Buddhists only") in which you use ideas like this to take responsibility for everything that happens to you. The idea is that by doing so you break the habit of blaming others or getting caught up in dramas about "poor me" or "the world's out to get me." It's pretty different from the way we practice in the Zen sect, but I fail to see what's so bad about it.
If by bad you mean what's so upsetting to people--it's the word "punish" and the horrible way most parts of the world treat those with disabilities. I've only really ever seen the able bodied bring up the concept of a disability being the "fault" of someone's past actions, or being a punishment for something. It's typically the able bodied who see disability as some horrible plight or punishment. Most of the people I've known with disabilities don't feel particularly punished.
As for the part about disable children being a concept used in a certain practice... fine, but it has nothing to do with Buddha Dharma, and, I think, is superstitious nonsense.