Dalai lama visits Green caucus
Scoop have some good pics of the visit. He started by saying that morally speaking he was a member of the Greens and talking at some length about the ecological crisis. He said some quite interesting things about the importance of integrating China into the world but also remaining critical of the Chinese govt’s human rights, labour, democratic and environmental standards. Friends must be truthful. He told us that Mao had told him that the Chinese Communist Party without criticism is like fish without water and so we should carry on being critical.
It is of course a message that Labour, National and New Zealand First are too frightened to hear because they are desperate for a trade deal at any cost. Labour had Clark’s cowardly accidental meeting in the airport, National with Key “dropping in” on a meeting with the Dalai Lama, and Winston meeting him only as NZ First leader. China says jump and Labour/National/NZ First say how high. The crazy thing is that Winston closed off the 16th floor of bowen house (where MPs have their offices) so that the media would not see him meeting with the Dalai Lama.
June 19th, 2007 at 6:35 pm
This Dalai joker cracks me up, thousands of trendy lefties rush along to see the man say things like “be kind to your neighbour” and they all hail him as some kind of messiah.
If that is what they need in their life they should go along and see Bishop Tamaki, at least that way we would not risk losing a free trade deal with China.
June 19th, 2007 at 10:05 pm
Sorry, BB, you seriously think that our prime minister/politicians should be passing their appointment books to China for approval? Or to any other country?
June 20th, 2007 at 9:56 am
some greens..and the climate-change denial trolls..
could be interested in this news-story..
http://environment.independent.co.uk/climate_change/article2675747.ece
phil(whoar.co.nz)
June 20th, 2007 at 10:01 am
Losing out on a free trade deal with China would be like shooting ourselves in the foot and missing.
Can’t say I’m too keen on theocracies, whatever their shade, but if Helen Clark meeting the Dalai Lama puts the trade deal on ice, I’m all for the two moving in together.
And actually, BB, I don’t think the boss monk’s appeal is particularly to leftists, he seems to have fans from all over the political spectrum.
June 20th, 2007 at 10:09 am
big bro said: …the man say things like “be kind to your neighbourâ€? and they all hail him as some kind of messiah. If that is what they need in their life they should go along and see Bishop Tamaki…
Think the difference is that ‘Bishop’ Tamaki says “be kind to you neighbour, unless he is queer, in which case, deny him his human rights and persecute him”.
June 20th, 2007 at 10:12 pm
Well said, Toad.
One might also add, “if she is an adult female, or a child, one can abuse and persecute these properties of husbands/fathers/brothers, at any time one considers they have transgressed one’s own arbitrary version of “God’s” laws.”
I have never seen any thing equal to that in the teachings of compassion and doing no harm (ahimsa) that the Dalai Lama promulgates.
Sam, I don’t think the Tibetan Lama’s still count as a theocracy while China denies them access to their monasteries/palaces in Tibet. Debatable point, though, I’d agree.
Om Shanti to all who follow the path of compassion.
June 22nd, 2007 at 11:56 am
OK how about “would-be theocracies”?
Oh, yeah, Theravada Buddhism hasn’t been too hot on the rights of women and gays either, although active persecution seems to be opposed since karma’s going to get them anyway.
June 22nd, 2007 at 2:58 pm
I believe the DL said that homosexuality in and of itself is not wrong, just homosexual acts are.
June 22nd, 2007 at 4:32 pm
as i have said in several other posts, will someone acculy do some research on the current dalai lama? and particuly his relivance to the history of tibet?
what he preaches is good, great in my opinion, but who he realy is and what he realy stands for and embodies is the most gross defilement of human rights the world has seen in the last few hundred years, far surpassing the genocides and massacres, 98 percent of the population being enslaved by the other 2 percent, the dalai lama being the spiritual head of the lamists. lamisim is as much buddhism as stalanist russia and post-mao china are communist, perverted and twisted, only superficaly bearing any resemblance.
there was a good article i read on it awhile back, i think it was called ‘when the dalai lama ruled: hell on earth’, part of a series on tibet.
as i said, what he teaches is great. but what he embodies and stands for is probaly the closist thing to evil that exists, stop holding him up as some human rights advocate, do so research.
Sapient
June 22nd, 2007 at 5:06 pm
Having said nasty things about his Dailyness, I’d like to stress that I’d take him and his lamas over the Chinese ‘communists’ and their cadres any day. The old days of Lamic rule in tibet seemed to at least have the advantage that the government was pretty inneffectual much of the time.