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Dalai Lama, the Political Monk

A fertile mind protected in the land of Ghandi


Many of today's young Tibetans are less enthralled with the Dalai Lama than are their counterparts outside of Asia.

Seen as weak on the issue of Chinese domination of Tibet, some would rather fight than submit passively. But the Dalai Lama knows all too well how bravely his countrymen have tried that approach in the past. He has repeatedly seen his people slaughtered by a vastly superior force.

So is there a pragmatic but winning strategy for Tibetans? Perhaps that is what China fears most, and in that sense the young militant Tibetans may be playing into the hands of their oppressors, as the actions of militant Palestinians have often provided an opportunity for aggression on the part of occupying forces.

Young Tibetans might do better to take a lesson from America, which saw its indigenous peoples slaughtered by European invaders (oops, sorry, call them settlers). The indigenous Americans truly fought openly and bravely. The result was to have their best genes exterminated, their culture decimated. Today, Tibet's young warriors' best hope for salvaging what they can of their genetic and cultural legacy is to get out of the line of fire.

The danger is that the warrior's pride and instinct for self-sacrifice becomes a tool for his own genocide. This is a weakness which an opponent will exploit fully.

It is to be hoped that today's young warriors will take a lesson from yesterday's warriors, who were brave but brought on the loss of an entire people. The message from history is: Maintain control of your heritage, your instincts and yourself. Value your legacy, and build a commitment to preserve it. Quiet, self-disciplined enclaves must function to secretly protect a culture's best seeds, so that they can someday bloom in a better climate.

If the lesson is taken, then perhaps those earlier warriors did not die in vain after all.