From Snow Lion Publications:Dalai Lama Quote of the Week War, sadly, has remained a part of human history up to the present, but I think the time has come to change the concepts that lead to war. Some people consider war to be something glorious; they think that through war they can become heroes. This attitude toward war is very wrong. Recently an interviewer remarked to me, "Westerners have a great fear of death, but Easterners seem to have very little fear of death."
To that I half-jokingly responded, "It seems to me that, to the Western mind, war and the military establishment are extremely important. War means death--by killing, not by natural causes. So it seems that, in fact, you are the ones who do not fear death, because you are so fond of war. We Easterners, particularly Tibetans, cannot even begin to consider war; we cannot conceive of fighting, because the inevitable result of war is disaster: death, injuries, and misery. Therefore, the concept of war, in our minds, is extremely negative. That would seem to mean we actually have more fear of death than you. Don't you think?"
~ From The Compassionate Life by Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama
tag: Buddhism, Dalai Lama, Tibet, War, Death
"We Easterners, particularly Tibetans, cannot even begin to consider war; we cannot conceive of fighting, because the inevitable result of war is disaster: death, injuries, and misery."
ReplyDeleteUhm, yeah, that's why the Japanese stayed peacefully neutral during WW II, the Chinese decided against invading Tibet, and North Korea is run by amiable granola-munching hippies.
Or is that what the DL meant by answering "half-jokingly," that he was intentionally giving a stupid answer because the question was so stupid?
> Or is that what the DL meant by answering
ReplyDelete> "half-jokingly," that he was intentionally giving a
> stupid answer because the question was so stupid?
Perhaps that's what he meant, but I think to a greater degree he was speaking of Eastern philosophy vs. Western philosophy, taken in general. Any particular person can oppose that trend, i.e. the "West" is predominantly a Christian culture, but there are many Christian passivists, and there is also clearly the example you just gave of Japan & China (although truly, China doesn't count because its decision to invade Tibet was when China was already a communist state and, hence, was no longer following Eastern philosophy/religion). But when you look at "the East" as compared to "the West" in their base philosophies, his half-joking statement is completely accurate.
Hiya Mike,
ReplyDeleteI'm not so sure each half of the world can be reduced to a concise base philosophy. That's like saying that Buddhism, Chinese Folk religion, Taoism, Shintoism, Hinduism and Bon are all the same thing. There are many "Eastern" philosophies out there, and to reduce them all to one "base philosophy" seems pointless. Traditional Shintoism for example certainly had no fear of war.
The Dalai Lama needs to make clear just who he is speaking for, and stop speaking in vague and fallacious generalities. Or get a better translator who will do so.
Hi Bill,
ReplyDeleteAgreed that it is not possible to truly combine all those different traditions you mentioned - each maintains many different viewpoints and different approaches. But I think you'd be hard-pressed to deny that the general Eastern philosophy (which is undeniably insufficient and inaccurately describes any one particular philosophy) is quite different from the general Western philosophy. I think the DL was using the terminology of Eastern & Western to define them as we tend to see them in West (stereotypically, I admit). So I can see what he's saying. But despite that, I think you are exactly right that it would be much better for him to define more specifically what he is speaking about.
Of course, this is also a quote, and thus probably only an excerpt of his statements. I'd be curious to read the rest, as quotes are ALWAYS insufficient to convey whatever his entire message had been.
Howdy again Mike,
ReplyDeleteExcellent points there. The DL is certainly savvy enough to tailor what he's saying to the understanding of who he's talking to, so it makes sense that he would speak in terms of the stereotypical western ideas of east and west, if that's what's needed to get his ideas across. And it might have been a bit cranky of me to jump all over one statement which was, as you pointed out, taken out of context.
All of which is what makes blog comments cool; we can unpack the truths that may be partially obscured by brevity and generalities. Thank you for your intelligence, and for helping me see what I was overlooking.
Nice discussion, guys. Thanks for staying with the discussion.
ReplyDeletePeace,
Bill