A few days back, I watched this documentary titled ‘Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion’. It details the history of Tibet dating back from the days of warring tribes till date. Or maybe a few years back depending on how old the documentary is. The feature was extremely well-made, I thought. The bulk of the documentary deals with how things have changed for the peaceful mountain-nation under the Chinese rule. Peace-loving monks warred with Chinese military in an attempt to preserve their heritage. Buddhism believes in ahimsa and yet, many of the monks took up arms in an effort to keep their sacred history intact. Such a lot of bloodshed, years of torture, brutality, desecration of the holy Potala palace, the statues, so much so that the holy land of Lhasa now has countless brothels that service the stationed military officers. It was heart-rending to see and hear accounts from monks and nuns as they recounted the extent to which they had been harassed. I could hardly keep the tears from flowing. In the midst of this absolutely horrendous situation, is His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Calm, full of faith and prayerful, He inspires courage, faith and patience. Some things are so absolutely unfair and unreasonable and in the world of big politics, strategic alliances and military coups, who cares for a monk’s silence?
In any case, there is only so much of bad karma that any entity can afford. Things will come full circle, they have to.
kookygoblin says:
“there is only so much of bad karma that any entity can afford”
While that is one of my abiding philosophies, I wonder if it really is true…Faith and hope act as a mild salve, what about wounds that run deep?
August 24, 2005 — 10:00 pm
iyer_the_gr8 says:
One wonders about something if it is true… one never wonders about anything if it is false… To heal the wounds that run deep… one has to go deeper into one’s own self… with faith and hope as the tools.
Nice post locks!
August 25, 2005 — 7:42 am
Lakshmi says:
🙂
Thanks.
August 25, 2005 — 10:13 am
Lakshmi says:
Faith is the only solution in such situations, I feel. Belief that things HAVE to be good, there is simply no other way it can be…
August 25, 2005 — 10:12 am
rajith says:
Buddhism believes in ahimsa and yet, many of the monks took up arms in an effort to keep their sacred history intact. Such a lot of bloodshed, years of torture, brutality, desecration of the holy Potala palace, the statues, so much so that the holy land of Lhasa now has countless brothels that service the stationed military officers.
Though a bit unrelated, I want to point out certain things.
I am not sure on how Buddhism believes in Ahimsa! I think vegetarianism was not a part of the Buddhist tradition and I was shocked when I found out that Buddha himself was not a vegetarian. It is believed that Buddha died after eating improperly cooked pork !
May be this is a controversial discussion to that. However, I felt that Jainism can be regarded as the religion which firmly belives in Ahimsa.
Buddhist monks in Srilanka are familar with weapons. Srilankan Prime minister Bandaranaike was assassinated by a Buddhist monk.
September 16, 2005 — 12:21 am
Lakshmi says:
It is believed that Buddha died after eating improperly cooked pork !
:-)Haven’t heard that before!
I have heard that Buddhist monks eat meat. Should confirm how that ties in with the principle of non-violence. You’re right about Jainism; it takes the principle of ahimsa to a whole new level.
September 16, 2005 — 2:48 pm