Word: lamas
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
What would the great men of old Communist China think of the ones leading today's quasi-capitalist boom? "If Mao were alive, he'd get rid of them all," the Dalai Lama said to a gathering of his followers today. The line got a big laugh and signaled a more forceful tone in the Tibetan spiritual leader's approach to China...
...what is the alternative? The buzz among the delegates is the idea that it is possible to know the reincarnation of a senior lama while he is still alive. The Dalai Lama mentioned it recently, stirring up hopes that he would name a direct successor, as well as a fair bit of theological head-scratching. "It's something about the body, mind and spirit being split in two," one delegate told...
...There has been some confusion," says Lhakdor, a monk who travels frequently with the Dalai Lama and has worked as his translator. To be clear: he says the Dalai Lama is simply referring to an alternative to the traditional search parties, in which the senior lama gives clear clues about where his reincarnation will be found, to be followed after his death. Critics of the practice say that while it might have some historical precedent, it is outdated and could open up the Dalai Lama to the charge that he is trying to create a dynasty...
...Whether or not the Dalai Lama decides to take that unusual step, he seems to have begun the succession process in other, more subtle ways. Senior lamas of all four schools of Tibetan Buddhism now regularly attend the Dalai Lama's teachings. The Dalai Lama has arranged for the Karmapa, an important lama who escaped from a Tibetan monastery eight years ago, to be tutored in several languages, including Korean, an indication of a wider global role...
...Most important, the summit itself is an attempt to make the Tibetan government in exile more democratic, more inclusive and better able to make decisions without the Dalai Lama. The delegates took the first step in that process on Saturday. They passed a resolution that reaffirmed support for the Dalai Lama's "Middle Path" approach to China but also, for the first time, acknowledged and validated those pushing for full independence or an end to negotiations. "It is significant," says Lobsang Sengge, a delegate and fellow at Harvard Law School whose research focuses on the internal democracy of the exile...