Germans Prefer Dalai Lama to Pope Benedict, Says Study

[KingCoil]

May I suggest that the reason why Germans appear to favor the Dalai Lama to the present Pope is because first, he is the PR created icon of the West on political considerations – the West and India want to embarrass China.

And second, because they do not know that he is a one man religious ruler, read that dictator, in Tibet until the Chinese ‘liberated’ Tibet from the dictatorship of the Dalai Lama; they think that he is purely a persecuted and expelled ruler from his country Tibet, and sympathize with him just like with any governmental heads in democratic countries today who had the bad luck to be overthrown by a much more powerful neighbor.

If you ask the Germans whether they would approve of a one man religious dictator in any country today, but you don’t mention Tibet and the Dalai Lama, they will definitely react with a vehement no.

Then you tell them Tibet under the Dalai Lama was exactly a country living and slaving and kept to pre-technological conditions under a one man religious leader, a Dalai Lama people subjected themselves to, believing in his rebirth from previous Dalai Lamas, and thereby with a mandate based upon not democratic election but discovery of rebirth from past Dalai Lamas – they the Germans and the West’s so-called intellectuals who take up with Buddhism will blush in confusion if they be honest.

Hahahaha.

KingCoil

 

[bekalc]

The Dai Lama is against abortion for one thing…

I don’t know how I feel about Tibet. I know that the Tibet issue isn’t the way the West portrays it, there can be propoganda on both sides of the issue.

Basically I’ll say this. Tibet has a long history a 700 year history of being a part of the Chinese empire. In fact the Republic of China (Taiwan) claims Tibet as well. Both sides have different attitudes and opinions, but the Chinese argument is that Tibet is legally an autonomous proviance of China.

Now does this mean the Chinese are wonderful and have been super kind to the Tibetans. Nope. They have also destroyed a lot of monastaries especially during the Cultural revolution. (A brutal period) BUT… Before the Chinese Tibet was a very poor area, still is with actual serfs.

 

[lucybeebee]

It is easy for Westerners to be attracted to Buddhism, because chances are they don’t have to deal with Buddhists on a regular basis. For example, we all know of cafeteria Catholics who contracept, support abortion, and don’t go to mass. We all probably also know Protestants who are obnoxious about their faith and unknowingly push people away because of it. Muslim violence is a daily occurence. In comparison, most Westerners will probably never meet a Buddhist. If we do, they will probably be a well-educated person who is involved in social issues or maybe a monk. However, if one were to go to certain parts of Asia where Buddhism is the norm, they would see that the average Buddhist is like the average nominal Christian. Buddhism practiced in the West is much different than its Eastern counterpart. In Western Buddhism, women are often in roles of authority, whereas in many Buddhist traditions in the East, women are not even allowed to be nuns (this is particularly important in the Theraveda tradition, where adopting a monastic lifestyle is seen as the best way to achieve nirvana). While vegetarianism is also extolled in Buddhism, it is hardly the norm in Buddhist countries. The list goes on and on. I also think that relatively few people actually know what the Dalai Lama thinks about anything; they hear news bytes about him talking about love and peace and they think that’s all there is to him.

 

[Ahimsa]

It is easy for Westerners to be attracted to Buddhism, because chances are they don’t have to deal with Buddhists on a regular basis. For example, we all know of cafeteria Catholics who contracept, support abortion, and don’t go to mass. We all probably also know Protestants who are obnoxious about their faith and unknowingly push people away because of it. Muslim violence is a daily occurence. In comparison, most Westerners will probably never meet a Buddhist. If we do, they will probably be a well-educated person who is involved in social issues or maybe a monk. However, if one were to go to certain parts of Asia where Buddhism is the norm, they would see that the average Buddhist is like the average nominal Christian. Buddhism practiced in the West is much different than its Eastern counterpart. In Western Buddhism, women are often in roles of authority, whereas in many Buddhist traditions in the East, women are not even allowed to be nuns

This is true of Tibetan and Theravada, but not Mahayana. Go to Taiwan: tons of Buddhist nuns there.

(this is particularly important in the Theraveda tradition, where adopting a monastic lifestyle is seen as the best way to achieve nirvana).

Even in Theravada, the order of nuns died out around 1100 CE, but it’s slowly being revived. In fact, there was a conference this summer in Germany, I believed, devoted to the issue of revival the order of nuns in both Tibetan and Theravada.

While vegetarianism is also extolled in Buddhism,

Only in Mahayana. The Theravadans don’t believe the Buddha ever required vegetarianism.

it is hardly the norm in Buddhist countries.

Especially Tibet, where it’s very hard to grow veggies.

The list goes on and on. I also think that relatively few people actually know what the Dalai Lama thinks about anything; they hear news bytes about him talking about love and peace and they think that’s all there is to him.

True. But the Dalai Lama has made known that he is against abortion, and that he holds a pretty conservative (from a Western perspective) viewpoint on sexual morality.

But I agree with your point overall: Westerners really don’t know what Buddhist is all about.