Eyes On The Prize

The Templeton Prize for the Dalai Lama?

There has never been an independent state of Tibet, and before 1959 it was run, by permission of successive Emperors of China, by the lamas and from the feudal landowning class from which alone the lamas were and are drawn. "Dalai" is a family name; only a member of the House of Dalai can be the Dalai Lama.

Life expectancy was half what it is today, with more than 90 per cent of the population belong to the serf class that provides the background of the people now running Tibet. That Han Chinese, always numerous there, are now more so than ethnic Tibetans can only be by the latter's choice, since the one child policy does not apply to them. But whatever the cause, Han Chinese, always numerous in Tibet, are now more so than ethnic Tibetans. That is just the reality on the ground.

Huge numbers of Tibetans, likewise, have always lived further east, whence they migrated to the Tibetan plateau in the first place. The Dalai Lama is not the spiritual leader of huge numbers of Tibetan Buddhists, and he is vicious in persecuting many of them. In keeping with the decidedly unpacific history of Tibetan Buddhism, among many other forms, the Dalai Lama has never condemned the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. No wonder that the Templeton Foundation loves him.

Grow up, you old hippies still living in Shangri-la. Or, as you are otherwise known, neoconservatives.