Tibet’s s customs and traditions are without doubt imperative to Tibetans, to Buddhists, to the world’s heritage, indeed what greater loss if they were not preserved.
Yet viewing the sumptuous Potala from the street below rushed my thoughts to the Christian Vatican. In a cynical twist I perceived the search for reincarnated Dalai Lamas with as much credulity as that of the Christian Virgin Birth.
Even if Tibetan Buddhism stepped from great philosophy of wisdom and compassion conceived under a tree, into the realm of organized politico-religion, its concepts are to believers as valid as my own disbeliefs are to me. As such I honor, respected them, and think in all fairness, like rivers to the sea should be free to take their own course…
We, common folk need the awe and inspiration provided by lofty demigods, noble princes and religious leaders that in return get the best of the earthly pie. We humbly live in poverty while they accumulate the wealth of centuries, reside in sumptuous palaces on the highest hills and lead luxurious and pompous lives…
Splendid riches and even looted treasures abound in elite palaces, but what excuses wealthy churches, temples and monasteries when their philosophical founders preached simplicity and detachment?
Perhaps Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness the fourteenth and present Dalai Lama knows. Clad in a simple monk’s robe he stated that in a future self-governing Tibet, he would refrain from political leadership. Yet as a private citizen, without interest in Tibetan Government or religious hierarchical positions, the Tibetan people could turn to him as an honest, neutral arbiter of Tibetan affairs.
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