The lime light has turned from the Dalai during the Olympic Torch marathon to the victims of China's earthquake. I watched with interest to see what HH would do. Well, he did say he was organizing a prayer ceremony and would have talks on what to do, and I hear some Tibetans in exile expressed the desire to send aid. For a religion of kindness it didn't seem especially effusive on compassionate action. Compassion has to be more than a meditative passive state of awareness of others.
Then to make things worse that silly Sharon Stone pouted about how the Chinese were mean to her friend the Dalai, and that maybe the earthquake was karmic revenge.
And so the religion of kindness, linked to a belief in Karma, has shown its underbelly. Karma is an offensive superstitious doctrine; that it shoud be invoked at the expense of the suffering of countless thousands is utterly inhumane. Naturally SS was corrected in this media blunder by HH.
The reality of Tibet's past is chilling. The communists liberated the Tibetans from a theocratic despotism whereby 90% of the population were subjected to slavery or serfdom, coerced by the threat of mutilation, amputation and torture by buddhist monks. The chinese built hospitals, schools, infrastructure and redistributed the land from the religious elite to the peasants.
I await your New Age outrage!
Discuss
Musycks on June 5, 2008, 6:34 PM
PJ… as always you point up the nasty grey areas in situations.. you have to stop doing this, people want black and white! ;)
The Dalai gets a long way on a beatific smile and PR. Some of his prognostications on the errancy of a homosexual lifestlye would make the Pope blush. He courts the media shamelessly, when I was in NYC last October he was playing Radio City Music Hall!!
Karma is just an extention of the idea of justice awaiting bad people after death.. not really any more sophisticated than an evangelical hell or a suicide bombers virgin buffet…. why does it play better when washed down by some Bhuddist passivity?
..and as I’ve said before.. how would the Palestinians be doing if they had a Dalai equivalent? Oh behave.
Don’t get me wrong, I like the Bhuddists, a nice inoffensive group.. but then I like Xtians too.
Judge people by what they do, not what they say?
and are you sure Sharon Stone is Science Saves?!
peace to you friend.
sciencesaves on June 5, 2008, 10:33 PM
I heard about a well-known Chinese actress who became irate at a French film festival when some socialites told her they were not even aware of the catastrophe.
I think the perceived value of life is still very low in areas of China, even though there are quite modern areas that are developing rapidly.
Celebrities really should be more careful what they say, too many people take them way too seriously for some reason, and they don’t usually make good impressions off the set.
Pastor Jennifer on June 6, 2008, 2:00 AM
Not unlike other religions Buddhism also has %u201Cskeletons in its%u2019 closet%u201D which it carefully conceals in the Western world. There are dark aspects in this %u201Cphilosophy of compassion, non-violence and tolerance%u201D.
that the Dalai’s Western sycophants blissfully ignore.
Musycks re the Dalai’s sexually repressive pronouncements, thanks for reminding me of that. I understand his publisher told him to cool it as it wouldn’t go down too well in the West! Just as well, because HH had expressed himself with a remarkably crude and vulgar understanding of human biology.
Maybe its time to do some myth busting on Buddhism. What say you ss and Musycks?
Musycks on June 6, 2008, 2:50 AM
PJ.. apart from some early history on the Buddhists, I’m not up to scratch with my knowledge, so anything you got would be appreciated. I think they are media darlings and that always puts my antannae on high alert.. and when the Dalai is playing Radio City then it’s being massaged in a way the scientologists would be proud of.
And Bhuddists have proved to be just as warlike and territorial politically as any other… witness Japan in WW2.
Pastor Jennifer on June 6, 2008, 4:12 AM
Musycks:
Exactly what I was alluding to!
Not very well known is that the Dalai and Shoko Asahara were good buddies.
Shoko is the evil nut that launched a poison gas attack in Tokyo. The God-King had given Shoko the mission of restoring Buddhism in Japan.
I quote HH
‘You can do that well, because you have the mind of a Buddha. If you do so, I shall be very pleased. It will help me with my mission.’
Well we might want to know what the buddhist fundamentalist’s secret mission is. Guess what, the same old religious lunacy … buddhist world domination. And of course that would make Dalai ruler of the world. The Pope ought to have a word with him about this concept, maybe they could shack up together!
Musycks on June 6, 2008, 4:20 AM
haha.. maybe they could exchange frocks??
scratch a monotheist, find a pantheist, scratch a pantheist, find a spiritualist,
scratch a Dalai… find a totalitarian?!!
thanks PJ.
sciencesaves on June 6, 2008, 8:01 AM
Yeah, the Buddhists aren’t a good option, really. Worship of anything, in my opinion, is wrong, and the power over the masses almost always causes corruption, it’s too easy for those in charge to take advantage of the situation, especially when the supernatural spiritual ball is in play.
At least it seems to be a step ahead of theism, in a warped sort of way. Really tough to remove the mental and emotional belief sedatives from peoples lives, however ridiculous it seems to us, as reasonable and rational people.
Knowledge through education must precede!
PJ, I’m counting on you to change the world! You know the men have done enough damage already, it’s the womens turn!
Good luck!
Pastor Jennifer on June 6, 2008, 4:12 PM
SS:
SH**! Don’t put that on me! I’m almost to my limit in Bigthink after two weeks of posting!
But thanks for being a nice debate partner.
BTW: Tibetan Buddhists are theistic. They have Gods of War, God Bless ’em.
Peace
Pastor Jennifer on June 6, 2008, 4:18 PM
Musycks:
You are wicked! The new Pope is such a fashion freak. He has had so many luscious new outfits made; I think he is stunning. But you can never have enough accessories, believe me on this! Gloves, hats, handbags. The Dalai just can’t handle the fashion statements!!!!
laughing
Peace.
sciencesaves on June 7, 2008, 10:12 AM
PJ, I thought Buddhism was atheistic, but I admit I have only a general knowledge of the basics.
What do you think about Bill Mahers statement: “An ex-nazi that wears funny hats”, a bit over the top, but the points about him sending the memo out regarding a wait and see position on the pedophilia lawsuits is true. What a hypocrite!
(Did we discuss this previously?)
Luke Allen on June 10, 2008, 4:11 AM
Hey PastorJennifer,
This is completely off topic. I don’t want to touch with a ten foot pole what any other group should or shouldn’t do… but I need to ask you a question/make a statement and it isn’t like we can email each other on here or anything so here it goes:
You are brilliant. However, you are VERY quick to find fault because of an error of one. We all make mistakes PastorJennifer.
The strippingoftheguru’s went to the site read a lot and what I mean is: How come it matter’s to what a spiritual man is speaking about, if he enjoys having sex? I mean I don’t want to prove anything is right or wrong but the argument is non-topical. The Thai buddhist section of the book particularly illuminated this disingenious type of thinking. I mean the author states 95% of these people are buddhist, gives a couple of bad apple stories and what am I suppose to conclude; Thai buddhist are bad? The numbers he uses shows a pretty good acting group as a whole.
All I’m saying to you… is there was a chain email I wish I could send you. It was asking which world leader you would pick for your country. There was like four choices… the first three where like adulterer’s tax evader’s pander’s etc etc. then the final one was a moral upright, vegatarian, highly decorated war hero, who just so turned out to be Hitler. The other three where discriptions of like Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln and I think JFK, I hope you get the point. One is more than the flaws of oneself. Please be more considerate when your making judgements like these; for your own intellectual growth.
Sorry if that was horrible Bigthink manners, I am new here.
Pastor Jennifer on June 10, 2008, 3:00 PM
Luke:
If someone is having sex, wonderful when it is consensual and on a level of equality. BUT, when someone is abusing a position of power to have sex with a vulnerable person then I have a problem. (Psychologists having sex with clients for example is illegal and unethical) Gurus having sex with vulnerable devotees who have engaged in the psychological destruction of their egos are rendered helpless against abuse.
I’ll stop here. You decide for yourself.
Pastor Jennifer on June 10, 2008, 3:13 PM
ss:
A lot of buddhists are non-theists. It is just the later strand of Mahayana Buddhism that re-incorporated a lot of theistic concepts from Hinduism and other folkloric traditions – Bon in Tibet for example.
If you ever saw the movie 7 years in Tibet Hollywood conveniently forgot to mention that the Dalai’s friend, played by Brad Pitt, was a Nazi SS officer.
To be disillusioned by one’s heroes is such a bummer really! Maybe one day I will write a piece about the Tibetan Kalachakra Tantra philosophy. But no-one will believe me.
Pastor Jennifer on June 10, 2008, 3:24 PM
SS:
I don’t think we ever discussed the Pope, but I was grateful, during his recent visit to the US, that he assumed papal responsibilty for the sexual abuse committed by RC priests . It was a long time coming and a much need gesture for the healing of the abused.
I don’t know about a nazi connection however. I sought of doubt it until I hear otherwise.
Intellectually I think he is a giant even if I don’t agree with (most) everything he says. His acknowledgment of Darwinian evolution and his defense of the theory against fundamental creationists is appreciated. (Yes I know he sucks re: women’s reproductive rights and homosexuality…such is religion)
Luke Allen on June 10, 2008, 3:45 PM
PastorJennifer
What I am saying is if Carl Jung had sex with a client it would be wrong. It would not in anyway be a topical argument to state: Carl Jung was wrong, therefore, his ideas are wrong. You are making a classic critical thinking error when you do this and weaken your own reasoning.
You don’t even address the chain email and the wisdom behind the world leader you would’ve picked. Let’s vote for Teddy Roosevelt over Hitler even though he wasn’t a vegatarian ProfessorJennifer.
Pastor Jennifer on June 11, 2008, 4:51 PM
Luke:
You confuse my premise.
You can reject an individual’s behavior without rejecting their belief system. But if a belief system is shown consistently to lead to behaviors you morally reject then you need to start asking real questions.
Sorry if I didn’t address your other issues but I honestly didn’t understand what you meant. Maybe you could rephrase them for me.
Peace
Judge the tree by its fruit.
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