 
His Holiness the
Dalai Lama
of Tibet
"When Tibet was still free,
we cultivated our natural isolation, mistakenly thinking that
we could prolong our peace and security that way. Consequently,
we paid little attention to the changes taking place in the
world outside. Later, we learned the hard way that in the international
arena, as well as at home, freedom is something to be shared
and enjoyed in the company of others, not kept to yourself." "I believe that Tibet will be
free only when its people become strong, and hatred is not strength.
It is a weakness. The Lord Buddha was not being religious, in
the popular sense of the term, when he said that hatred does
not cease by hatred. Rather, he was being practical. Any achievement
attained through hatred [can only invite] trouble sooner or
later." --from Snow Lion Publication: "The Pocket Dalai Lama" by the Dalai Lama, compiled and edited by Mary Craig ____________
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Dalai Lama: Time's 'Most
Influential'
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TIME Magazine
May 1, 2008
Spiritual leader the Dalai Lama is the
most influential person in the
world, according to Time Magazine.
President George W. Bush, Russian leader
Vladimir Putin, rocker Bruce
Springsteen, media mogul Oprah Winfrey,
teen singer Miley Cyrus and
actor Robert Downey Jr. are among the
newsmakers on Time magazine's 2008
list of the most influential people in
the world, dubbed 'The Time 100."
His holiness was the top name in Leaders
& Revolutionaries category,
released Thursday on Time's Web site.
The list is also divided among the
categories Heroes & Pioneers, Scientists
& Thinkers, Artists &
Entertainers and Builders & Titans.
"To me, the most mystical thing about
him is also the most ordinary: the
Dalai Lama is happy. He's happy in the
midst of chaos and turmoil,"
spiritualist Deepak Chopra wrote in an
essay on his holiness. "The most
inspiring thing he ever told me was to
ignore all organized faiths and
keep to the road of higher consciousness.
Winfrey's appearance on the list is her
fifth.
The list also includes presidential contenders
Sen. Barack Obama, Sen.
Hillary Clinton and Sen. John McCain,
who are No. 3, 4 and 5 in the
Leaders & Revolutionaries category,
respectively. Putin is No. 2 in the
category and Bush is No. 7.
Each person on the list is accompanied
by an essay written by a public
figure. Elizabeth Edwards writes about
Lance Armstrong and Cate
Blanchett writes about Australian Prime
Minister Kevin Rudd. Michelle
Obama writes about Winfrey, while former
president Bill Clinton writes
about former British Prime Minister Tony
Blair.
George Clooney writes about star couple
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie,
who fall into the Heroes & Pioneers
category for their work as goodwill
ambassadors worldwide.
"It is one thing to talk about the problems
of the world and quite
another to actually try to change things,"
Clooney wrote.
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, filmmaker
Rob Reiner and Sen. Joe
Lieberman write about Obama, Clinton and
McCain, respectively.
The Time 100 also lists Iraq Shiite cleric
Muqtada al-Sadr, Federal
Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, U.S. Defense
Secretary Robert Gates and
Chinese President Hu Jintao.
Other celebrities on the list include
actor-filmmaker Tyler Perry,
"Saturday Night Live" producer Lorne Michaels,
Oscar-winning filmmakers
Joel and Ethan Coen, and "Knocked Up"
and "Superbad" filmmaker Judd Apatow.
____________
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Dalai Lama
------------
By Deepak Chopra
TIME Magazine
Millions of people turn to the
Dalai Lama for inspiration, but to whom
does he turn? He and his people
have struggled all their lives with the
audacity of hopelessness. Oppression
and exile are their daily bread.
Yet the Dalai Lama, 72, remains
calm in the face of cruelty. What does
he think of the human race? "We
are the superior species on Earth but
also the biggest troublemakers,
China's rulers aren't like the
British masters of colonial India, and
the Dalai Lama's Gandhiesque nonviolent
struggle won't give them twinges
of conscience, leading to Tibet's
freedom. If anything, Beijing has
grown more ruthless in suppressing
Tibetan aspirations, as we've seen
this Olympic year. And yet he has
found a way to think kindly of those
who oppress his people and vilify
his name. I found him unwilling to
show any harshness. He said to
me, "I don't dislike the Chinese, only
their actions."
To me, the most mystical thing
about him is also the most ordinary: the
Dalai Lama is happy. He's happy
in the midst of chaos and turmoil. The
most inspiring thing he ever told
me was to ignore all organized faiths
and keep to the road of higher
consciousness. "Without relying on
religion, we look to common sense,
common experience and the findings of
science for understanding,
marvel at this model of calm and
compassion. I'm sure neuroscientists
would love to know what's going
on inside that brain.
To whom, then, does the Dalai Lama
turn for inspiration? It's not a
person but a place?abeyond I and
thou, beyond self and nonself. The
wonder isn't that such a place
can be found. The wonder is that one man
makes it look so easy.
Chopra, author of more than 50
books on spirituality and medicine, has
met the Dalai Lama several times
____________
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Grandmaster Hsing Yun:
Taiwan monk urges China
to befriend Dalai Lama
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By Benjamin Kang Lim
BEIJING, Saturday, May 03, 2008 (Reuters) -
One of Taiwan's most influential
Buddhist monks urged China on Friday to
turn Tibet's exiled spiritual
leader, the Dalai Lama, "from an enemy into
a friend" in the wake of unrest
in the Himalayan region.
Tibet has become a flashpoint
since March for anti-China protests that
have disrupted the international
leg of the Olympic torch relay and led
to calls for national leaders
to boycott the Beijing Games, which open
on August 8.
The Dalai Lama's envoys are due
to fly to China from India on Saturday
to meet their Chinese counterparts
over the crisis in Tibet, the
government-in-
pressure and agreed to fence-mending
talks.
"It's a very good thing the Dalai
Lama's envoys can come. It's also a
very good thing China is willing
to accept (them)," Master Hsing Yun
told Reuters during a visit to
China.
Hsing Yun, abbot of Buddha Light
Mountain temple in Taiwan's southern
port city of Kaohsiung, said
China would be better off befriending the
Dalai Lama, who has beenw demonized
by Tibet's hardline Communist Party
boss and state media.
"The Dalai Lama is Tibet's spiritual
leader. Politically, (China) should
turn (him) from an enemy into
a friend," Hsing Yun said in an interview.
Hsing Yun said he did not understand
recent events in Tibet but called
for "mutual respect and tolerance"
between China and the Dalai Lama, who
fled into exile in India in 1959
after an abortive uprising against
Chinese rule.
Asked what he thought of the
Dalai Lama, Hsing Yun said they have met
several times and he found the
1989 Nobel Peace Prize laureate to be
"optimistic, bright and cheerful,
always wearing a smile and easy to get
along with".
Hsing Yun urged China to take
the Dalai Lama seriously, saying the
Tibetan god-king is "very sincere"
when he says he wants autonomy, not
independence, for his homeland,
albeit China does not believe him.
The Dalai Lama cannot unilaterally
decide Tibet's fate, Hsing Yun said.
The Tibet Youth Congress, the
radical wing of the Tibetan community in
exile, has challenged the Dalai
Lama's "middle way" policy of non-violence.
China has blamed the Dalai Lama
and his supporters for the rioting,
which it says has killed about
20 "innocent" civilians. The Dalai Lama
denies the accusation.
The government-in-
arrested in an ensuing government
crackdown.
Hsing Yun's comments were unlikely
to rile China, which has sought to
win the hearts and minds of Taiwanese
in a policy change since 2005,
analysts said.
(Editing by Giles Elgood)
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