What Has the Dalai Lama Achieved?
The Fourteenth Dalai Lama moves with impunity through his many roles as politician and religious leader. When he does something wrong as a politician, he is excused as a religious leader; and when he does something wrong as a religious leader, he is excused as needing to act as a politician. It seems that no one can ‘pin him down’; no one can blame him for anything and he is able to get away with whatever he likes.
With a role for every occasion – holy man, politician, international statesman, simple monk, pop icon, Buddhist Pope, socialist, movie star, autocrat, democrat, Marxist, humanitarian, environmentalist, Nobel Peace prize winner, nationalist, Buddha of Compassion, communist, God-King – the Dalai Lama weaves a complex web of religion and politics that entraps his audiences wherever he goes. Nobody has ever seen anything like it. People are easily swayed by the historical mystique of Tibet and its ‘God-King’, and feel captivated and convinced by his charm.
Wearing the robes of a monk and using the Buddha’s profound words, the Dalai Lama has presumed to teach the world how to accomplish all of the things that he has in fact failed to achieve himself. Through words alone, and a vast and very expensive publicity machine, the Dalai Lama has established for himself the position of a ‘God-King’ in the minds of most people of the world. But behind the rhetoric, the public image and the charisma that has dazzled the world is someone who has failed repeatedly.
‘It’s not clear what practical benefit Tibetans in Tibet have received from the Dalai Lama’s activities abroad, though. Arguably, they have made their plight worse. The Dalai Lama’s main achievement has been to turn himself into an international celebrity, a status that ironically is dependent on the continued subjugation of Tibet.’352
If we look behind the charisma, the antics and charm of the Dalai Lama, behind the illusion and the calculated deception that he has been working all these years for an independent Tibet, and we ask, ‘What has the Dalai Lama actually done for Tibet?’, the answer is ‘Nothing’. Actually it is worse than nothing, because he has given up Tibet, he has lost Tibet totally.
If we ask, ‘What has the Dalai Lama done for world peace, for the environment, for human rights and religious freedom?’, the things he constantly talks about, the answer is again ‘Nothing’. We cannot point to an acre of earth anywhere in the world that the Dalai Lama has rescued from deforestation, strip-mining, exhaustive agriculture or contamination. The Dalai Lama talks about world peace, human rights and religious freedom, but except for the prizes and awards he personally has received, we cannot point to a single achievement in any of these areas that has been accomplished through his own efforts. In fact, through his violation and abuse of human rights and religious freedom he contributes directly to conflict and disharmony in the world.
If we look behind the Dalai Lama’s attacks against so-called ‘fundamentalists’ and ‘sectarians’ we find to the contrary that he himself is in fact destroying the peace, harmony and happiness of his own faithful community, and of other Buddhist practitioners around the world. If we look behind the Dalai Lama’s call for harmony and unity among the four Tibetan Buddhist traditions, we find a plan through which he is actually destroying the four traditions, thus securing for himself a position of prime power and influence in the event of his return to Tibet.
After so many years in exile, the Dalai Lama stands in the wake of a series of international and domestic political failures that has produced deep crisis and division within the Tibetan exile community and now threatens the Buddhist community worldwide. He has created nothing but problems for the Tibetan people he claims to represent including vicious discrimination against innocent religious practitioners. In the international sphere, we see a political leader who has been overwhelmed and marginalised, not so much by the course of history but as a result of his own political views, misjudgements and mistakes.
The Dalai Lama has not been able to do anything to reverse Beijing’s integrationist policy in Tibet, the prospects for the exiled Tibetans’ return to Tibet are as remote as ever, negotiations with the Chinese are in deadlock, and there is no inclination amongst the world’s governments to recognise Tibet as an independent state. The Dalai Lama has become a world-famous figure, but has failed to gain anything concrete for his people.
The Dalai Lama’s endorsement of Marxist ideas and praise of Mao Zedong’s activities clearly shows that he does not like democracy or wish to share his power with other people. On the other hand he does not like the present Chinese government. In his own newspaper Shejahe is always criticising the Chinese government, calling them ‘ten-dra China’, or ‘China, enemy of Buddha’s doctrine’.
The main reason why he continually criticises the Chinese is that at present Tibet is controlled by the Chinese, and he wants to take back the power and control for himself. For this reason he devised a scheme: to regain his power and position he told the Chinese that though he accepted the loss of Tibetan independence he nevertheless wanted autonomy, which would give him alone sole control of Tibet.
He applied effort to achieve this for many years, but when he finally realized that his scheme was not working and that the Chinese would not fulfil his wishes he became frustrated and began organising international demonstrations whose violent nature disturbed people in many countries. Through this we can see the Dalai Lama’s hypocritical behaviour and selfish nature: he is not concerned with the future of Tibet but only with his own position and power. He received the Nobel Peace Prize, apparently indicating that he is a peacemaker, but in truth he is a troublemaker who has destroyed the hitherto unquestioned trust, peace and harmony within Tibetan communities throughout the world.
As a direct result of the Dalai Lama’s disastrous domestic policies and inflammatory speech, the Tibetan community is deeply and even violently divided against itself on an increasing number of critical issues. These include: (1) the Dalai Lama’s unilateral decision to drop the aim of Tibetan independence, without consultation with government or the Tibetan people; (2) his failure to fulfil his avowed commitment to democratise the Tibetan government; (3) his acquiescence in, or even instigation of, press censorship and the repression of freedom of expression; (4) his ruthless suppression of freedom of religion through banning the practice of Dorje Shugden; and (5) his sanctioning or instigation of many violations and abuses of human rights, including threats, coercion, intimidation, excommunication, physical violence and even murder.
There are many causes of the Dalai Lama’s failures to achieve anything substantial for the Tibetan people, including his own political-ideological views and attitudes, his incompetence as ‘head of state’, the dubious role played by the Nechung oracle and the participation of the Dalai Lama’s immediate family in the generation and execution of government policy.
But the fundamental factor underlying the present crisis lies within the very nature and function of the Dalai Lama’s Tibetan government as a feudal theocratic system – with its endemic mixing of religion and politics, its translation of religious ideas into government policy, its deep confusion over the roles of religious leader and head of state, and its retrogressive view of the position of the Dalai Lama as the ‘God-King’ of Tibet.
After fifty years, we do not see in this Dalai Lama a ‘God-King’, a saviour, or even a wise statesman skilfully shaping the destiny of his country and its people through a difficult time. What we see instead is a desperate and cynically self-seeking man who has precipitated the greatest catastrophe in Tibetan history.
With these points in mind, we should note John Goetz’s remark in the conclusion of his article, ‘On the Outs with the Dalai Lama’: ‘The tragedy of Tibet is not only the brutal Chinese occupation but also the desperation that has led so many to believe that return to the Dalai Lama is the only alternative.’353
‘Free Tibet’ - Where Has All The Money Gone?
For decades, support groups and organisations throughout the West have been raising funds for a ‘Free Tibet’. From government donations to sale of buttons, bumper-stickers, bags and hats through organising concerts, dinners and exhibitions; and through every other imaginable fundraising device, these organisations continue to raise a vast amount of money for what most western benefactors believe is the goal of a free, independent Tibet.
In his articleSelling Tibet to the Worldprinted on 5 June 2008, Michael Backman reported:
‘GUCCI, iPod, Facebook, Tibet – these are among the world’s hot brands, for which brand integrity is everything.
‘Tibet, as a brand, works particularly well. It brings in millions, and Hollywood A-listers queue to endorse it. What’s more, they do it for free. Creative director and brand chief executive, the Dalai Lama, will visit Australia again next week. He will preside over a five-day Tibetan prayer instruction course in Sydney. A company has been set up to handle the visit – Dalai Lama in Australia Limited.
‘Tickets for the event can be bought online even from The Age’s own Box Office website along with tickets for Bjorn Again and The Pink Floyd Experience. But few are as expensive as the Dalai Lama experience, with tickets ranging from $800 for front seats to $450 for seats at the back. Tickets for good seats for the Sunday session alone are $248. Lunch is extra – between $18 and $27 for a pre-ordered lunch box. A clothing range has even been created. There are polo shirts, baseball caps - even men’s muscle tees emblazoned with the endless Buddhist knot. From street chic to urban cool, baby, this monk has funk.
‘Saving Tibet, like Saving Private Ryan, is a good earner. Everyone’s into it, even China. Back in April, a factory in China’s Guangdong province was exposed as one of the manufacturers of the Free Tibet flags so prominent in the anti-Olympic torch protests in Britain, France and the US. The factory workers claimed they had no idea what the colourful flags represented. Blame China’s state-controlled media for that.’354
In addition, every Tibetan, whether male or female, infant, infirm or old, and whether living in the East or West, is expected to pay an ‘independence-tax’ to the Tibetan exile government. A record of these payments is kept in the ‘Green Book’ that every Tibetan is expected to carry. This book is essential for Tibetans in India wanting a permit for travel outside India; and those who do not pay lose benefits and services, and are often ostracised, risking persecution and exile from their own community.355The Dalai Lama’s government also receives large donations from other sources including national governments, private individuals of many countries, philanthropic institutions, businesses and many other types of organizations (including the Japanese Aum cult, as already documented).
The funds collected from the ‘independence-tax’ and all these other fundraising activities are not used for the support or relief of the Tibetan community. Most of the funds for the relief of refugees, for the orphaned, for education, for medical care and hospitals, are obtained directly from the Indian government, from the major worldwide relief agencies, western governments and private charitable trusts.356This funding includes $1.7 million a year from the United States CIA.357
In this regard Grunfeld says:
‘One of the major sources of political power for the Dalai Lama is his ability to control relief funds, educational scholarships, and the hiring of Tibetan teachers and bureaucrats. These powers only continue as long as there are many stateless refugees. Consequently, it is to the benefit of the leadership to keep Tibetans in children’s homes, transit camps and temporary facilities - not unlike the situation among the Palestinian refugees.’358
There has been widespread corruption and mismanagement of relief funds by the Tibetan administration.359A case in point is the nursery administered by the Dalai Lama’s late sister, Tsering Dolma. Grunfeld notes:
‘ …while the children in her care were frequently on the verge of starvation, she was noted for her formal twelve-course luncheons. Meanwhile, in bitterly cold weather the children were clad in thin, sleeveless cotton frocks - though when VIPs visit the Upper Nursery, every child there is dressed warmly in tweeds, wool, heavy socks, and strong boots.’360
The amount of money raised for the Tibetan causes over the last few decades – which most contributors in the West have been led to believe is for a free Tibet – probably runs into hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars. If these funds are not being used in the support or relief of the exiled Tibetan community, or for a free, independent Tibet (because the Dalai Lama stopped aiming for this as early as the 1980s), then what is this money being collected for? How much money has been collected? And where is all this money being kept? These are questions to which many benefactors, including national governments around the world, should demand answers.
The author, Michael Backman did ask these questions, and reported:
‘Little is known about the government-in-exile’s finances. I did contact its Department of Finance in Dharamsala with a series of questions about how it funds itself and expenditure. I was sent a series of spreadsheets in reply.
‘The government-in-exile claims that its total budget for 2002-03 amounted to the equivalent of US$22.028 million. The budget was spent on various programs such as health, education, religion and culture. The biggest item was for “political-related expenditure” at US$7 million. The next biggest was administration, which runs to US$4.5 million. Around US$1.8 million was allocated to running the government-inexile’s offices of Tibet overseas.
‘For all that the government-in-exile claims to do, these sums appear too low. Nor is it clear how donations enter its budgeting. These are likely to run to many millions but there is no explicit acknowledgment of them or their sources.’361
After making this report Michael Backman received anonymous death threats.362
Who Is The Real Dalai Lama?
Who, after all, is the Dalai Lama, the mythical ‘God-King of Shangri-la’? In the 1920s after her fifteen-year sojourn in Tibet, the writer and explorer Alexandra ‘David-Néel’ wrote:
‘… these writers, men who not only had never set foot on Tibetan soil but who possessed no reliable information as to its inhabitants, have indulged in fables utterly without foundation. Some represented the Dalai Lama as one who understood and spoke every language on earth. Others peremptorily asserted that he was the ‘pope’ of all Buddhists. Others again, spoke of him as a magician usually engaged in working miracles of the most fantastic nature, while some imagined his palace of Potala to be a kind of ‘holy of holies’, inaccessible to the profane and peopled with supermen, hierophants, guardians of dreaded mysteries. All of this is pure fancy. The Dalai Lama is pre-eminently a temporal sovereign: the autocrat-monarch of Tibet.’363
And as a journalist recently reported, the same fantastic notions of the Dalai Lama still exist:
‘The state of denial in the West about some of the Dalai Lama’s alleged power-tripping, or at least the unquestioning attitude towards the Dalai Lama and everything that he does, highlights the role that he plays for many Western celebs, commentators and politicians today: he’s a cartoon ‘good guy’, giggling, pure and righteous, who apparently should be unconditionally applauded for standing up to the ‘Evil Chinese’. All of the Dalai Lama’s bad points – his origins in the stifling medievalism of 1930s Tibet; his archaic practices; his disregard for ‘concepts like democracy and freedom of religion’; his backing from the CIA in its Cold War with the Chinese – are simply ignored, as His Holiness is invited to guest-edit FrenchVogue, attend charity auctions with Sharon Stone, and rub shoulders with Richard Gere. Pema shows me theIndependent on Sunday, published the day before we met, which has a feature about the Dalai Lama ‘charming the West’. There are around 12 photos showing him meeting celebrities and other do-gooders. Yet in two of the photos, it isn’t the Dalai Lama at all; it’s a different Lama. Maybe these Tibetans all look the same to British picture editors.
‘ “He’s just a photograph and a symbol to many people in the West”, says Pema.’364
For over 360 years, it has not been really certain which or for that matter whether any of the occupants of the Potala, was a real Dalai Lama, a real reincarnation of Gendun Drub, including the present Dalai Lama. But whether or not the present Dalai Lama is the real Dalai Lama – a true embodiment of Buddha’s compassion – should be judged not on the Dalai Lama’s words or on the mystique surrounding his position, but by his actions. And on the evidence presented in this book the Dalai Lama’s actions have fallen short of even ordinary standards of decent behaviour let alone the enlightened actions of a Buddha.
Broadly speaking, this book has considered three kinds of actions of the current Dalai Lama: (1) deceptive actions; (2) unethical or non-virtuous actions; and (3) actions of violence and persecution.
Many of these actions constitute major or minor transgressions of the Dalai Lama’s three sets of Buddhist vows (Pratimoksha, Bodhisattva and Tantric). Because he has incurred root downfalls in all three sets, he has lost all three levels of ordination. As he has broken his monastic vows, the Dalai Lama is actually no longer a monk, although he continues to dress like one.
Examples of some of the Dalai Lama’s direct and indirect actions are summarised below to illustrate each of the categories and sub-categories.
Deceptive actions:
1. Advocating human rights and religious freedom, while engaged in systematic violation and abuse of human rights and religious freedom.
2. Advocating democratic government, values and principles, while operating a repressive autocratic theocracy in Dharamsala and holding a Marxist-communist ideology.
3. Deceiving Tibetan communities into thinking that he is working for a return to a free, independent Tibet, and collecting an ‘independence-tax’ from every Tibetan for decades for the purpose, having already unilaterally abandoned the idea of Tibetan independence over fifteen years ago.
4. Deceiving the West into thinking that he is working for Tibetan independence, and collecting vast sums of money through ‘Free Tibet’ concerts, banquets and other fundraising sources for this purpose.
5. Including deceptions and lies within his writings such as his autobiography and the biographical film on his life,Kundun (in which he played a major role in directing), specifically concerning:
i. The nature of the Tibetan Rebellion as a popular reaction of the masses against atrocities of the Chinese;
ii. His commitment to working with the Chinese in the development of Tibet under communism, and the extent of his support and advocacy of Chinese communism;
iii. The extent of the killing of Tibetans by the Chinese, and of their destruction of the Norbulingka Palace, Potala and city of Lhasa at the time of his escape;
iv. The nature and organisation of the escape to India, including which oracle was consulted before his escape to India.
6. Lying and deceiving others as to the reasons for banning the practice of Dorje Shugden, through numerous Tibetan exile government statements, and for orchestrating a campaign of propaganda and slander against Dorje Shugden practitioners.
7. Denying having imposed a ban on Dorje Shugden practice, while at the same time ruthlessly implementing such a ban in the lay and monastic Tibetan communities worldwide.
8. Claiming to be creating harmony, unity and nonsectarianism within the four Tibetan Buddhist traditions, while actually dividing Tibetan society, creating deep schisms within the four traditions and systematically trying to destroy them.
9. Claiming to be the Fourteenth Dalai Lama and to be within the lineage of the Fifth and Thirteen Dalai Lamas when actually he is not.
Unethical or non-virtuous actions:
1. Complicity in actions of violence, slander, coercion and intimidation.
2. Complicity in illegal arms trading; and in a conspiracy to overthrow the government of Bhutan, that would have involved assassination.
Actions of violence and persecution
The Fourteenth Dalai Lama’s activities of physical, verbal, social and religious violence and persecution, carried out directly and indirectly, by edict, threat, coercion and blackmail, by slander and propaganda, by excommunication and banishment, have been well documented above. Many of these actions, in addition to being the most serious transgressions of the moral discipline of an ordained person, also involve civil and constitutional illegalities. Most of them are also gross abuses of human rights and religious freedom.
In these and many other ways, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama has been deceiving the world, and causing suffering and problems. In democratic countries, Presidents and Prime Ministers are held accountable for the actions of their ministers, their governments and the politicians and political parties that support them. In the same way the Dalai Lama bears direct or indirect responsibility for all of these actions because they were carried out by him personally or on his behalf. He, and he alone, should be held to account for these actions and for their consequences.