Dear Monk,
I am an Asian Buddhist grown up with a Theravada Buddhist background but have been living in the West for the last many years. One thing I noticed here is that whenever HH the Dalai Lama comes to the West, people go crazy. This is something I have not seen in Asian Buddhist countries. May be I am wrong but I don’t think his name is even known well in the Theravada Buddhist world. I often wonder why he isn’t a heartthrob for the Theravada Buddhists as he is for the West. Please explain.
By the way, I appreciate your attempt to answer questions of Buddhist interests! Keep it up.
Chamri
Dear Chamri,
Part of the answer to your inquisition lies in the premise that the Dalai Lama isn’t a heartthrob for the Theravada Buddhists as he is for the West perhaps because the message of ‘peace and non-violence’, credited to him by the West as his exclusive invention, is but a legacy the Theravada Buddhists have inherited and embedded in their hearts hundreds of years before the modern West has come into contact with it through HH the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama possesses nothing new which can throb the Theravada Buddhists’ hearts. However, a broader examination on this issue should be approached on three delicate aspects and complexities that make the Dalai Lama extremely not popular in the Theravada Buddhist world: religious, cultural and political.
Religiously, the Theravada Buddhists have inherited the form of Buddhism unanimously accepted by all Buddhist traditions to be the earliest, if not the original, which is believed to contain the actual words of the historic Buddha. The form of Buddhism, on the other hand, the Dalai Lama represents mostly originates from Indian Masters extending up to 10th century AD, which is more than a thousand years later than the historic Buddha. Therefore, in no way the Theravada Buddhists are willing to exchange their oldest Buddhist legacy with something that is publicly and historically accepted and proved to be of later origins. Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion of whom the Dalai Lama is believed to be a worldly manifestation, Ksitigarbha, the bodhisattva who resides in hells, Amitabha, the Buddha who rules the western paradise to name but a few are all alien to Theravada Buddhists so much so that they refuse to accept these ‘enlightened beings’, as it were, as essentially that of Buddhist. Even the very attribute of ‘living Buddha’ attached to the Dalai Lama comes to the Theravada Buddhists as extremely reserved. (Note that the office of Dalai Lama extends back not more than five hundred years which is, more or less, a modern invention and the Dalai Lama is attributed to be a manifestation of an enlightened Buddha on the basis of ‘newly found texts’ in Tibet). Buddhist history shows that Theravada was at loggerheads with Mahayana (Dalai Lama is a Mahayanist), a revolutionized Buddhist movement centuries after the Buddha’s demise. While Mahayana seems to have been very accommodating in its collection, composition, compilation and interpretation of Buddhist doctrines, Theravada remained to be the hardcore and orthodox form of Buddhism till today. Hence, if the Dalai Lama, a Mahayanist goes on a preaching tour to the Theravada Buddhist world that would certainly be seen as Mahayana evangelism which would ultimately do more harm than good to the historic fragile relationship that exists between Mahayana and Theravada. And certainly the Dalai Lama wouldn’t like himself to be seen as a Mahayana evangelist by his fellow Buddhists. The Theravada’s opposition to Mahayana evangelism is historical. In around the fifth century after Christ, Mahayana tried its first wave of evangelism in Sri Lanka but it was strongly opposed and was suppressed by its rival, the Mahavihara School which saw itself to be the sole guardian and defender of Theravada Buddhism. The Lankavatarasutra, one of the very important Mahayanist sutras is said to be written in Sri Lanka but it did not find its relevance there. Keeping in mind the historical opposition of the Theravada Buddhists to Mahayanist teachings, it is not beyond one’s understanding ‘why’ the Dalai Lama’s preaching tours and initiations would not be welcomed in present day Theravada Buddhist countries notably in Sri Lanka, Thailand and Burma, the hubs of Theravada orthodoxy. If you were to attribute the Dalai Lama’s popularity to his teachings, then surely he cannot be popular among the Theravada Buddhists because his kind of teaching of Buddhist doctrines, initiations and rituals are not accommodated in the shoe of the Theravada orthodoxy.
Culturally and geographically, huge differences exist in countries where Mahayana found its accommodation to countries where Theravada orthodoxy exists. Being itself very accommodating, the Mahayana changed and adopted its doctrines and particularly that of the Vinaya (rules guiding monks and nuns) to suit its particular cultural and geographical contexts. This has led to distinct differences in the way Theravada, Mahayana and Tibetan monks and nuns dress, behave and do chanting for example. Though outer appearance is never what one internally is, this can have a huge effect in a cultural context. For example, though Buddhists of Mahayana background may happily and comfortably don the Theravada monastic robe without much cultural hassles, the Buddhists with a Theravada background would find it extremely difficult to don Mahayana monastic robes to live in their native lands of Theravada orthodoxy. This is probably why you can not find a single native/local Mahayana monk in traditional Theravada countries whereas it is not that difficult to find local Theravada monks in traditional Mahayana countries. Now if the Dalai Lama is having local monk and lay disciples and followers in Theravada countries as he is having in the West, then surely there is no reason not to think why he wouldn’t be a heartthrob in the Theravada world as well. Worse still, given his accommodating nature and international adaptations, the Dalai Lama sees no cultural and even religious taboos in shaking hands and holding hands with women, worshipping lay people he meets in front, wearing hi-fi lay boots, wrist watch and the like. But these very things the Dalai Lama does in public are extremely important cultural and religious taboos a monk is prohibited to do in Theravada Buddhist countries. Knowing that in Thailand it is a cultural taboo for a monk to accept anything directly from a woman’s hands, a foreigner might not even imagine well enough how a Thai Buddhist would feel seeing the Dalai Lama (announced to be a monk) on TV screen walking holding hand in hand with a woman! Much more so when an average Theravada Buddhist sees the Dalai Lama (a Buddha?!) worshipping a group of western strangers! These are some of the cultural shocks which the Theravada orthodoxy would not be willing to compromise to accommodate in their cultural and religious contexts; and this is one of the very important factors why the Dalai Lama isn’t and cannot be a heartthrob for the Theravada Buddhist world.
The political role the Dalai Lama plays as ‘a simple Buddhist monk’ (a self definition often referred to by the Dalai Lama himself) is perhaps the highest level obstacle why he isn’t a heartthrob in the Theravada Buddhist world. The fact that the Dalai Lama plays a dual role of a politician and ‘a simple Buddhist monk’ makes it extremely difficult for a Theravada Buddhist to determine whether he is preaching ‘politics’ or ‘Buddhism’. When the Dalai Lama speaks, the question is: is he speaking as a politician or is he speaking as a simple Buddhist monk? The answer is complex to determine indeed but if he is speaking as ‘both’ then that would be a complete bizarre because ‘religion’ and ‘state’ are two separate things, a policy strictly followed in the Theravada Buddhist world. But however, given the extensive publicity of his political involvement in the Tibet issue as a temporal head, he becomes a politician in the eyes of the Theravada Buddhists. To make the matter worse, China has been carrying out a media and diplomatic propaganda against the Dalai Lama branding him as ‘a separatist’, ‘a cunning politician (using religion as a cover)’, ‘a wolf disguised as a monk’ (political titles conferred and added to the already long list of religious titles of the Dalai Lama by China) so on so forth. The fact that China has immense political influence in South and Southeast Asia makes this propaganda extremely successful because whenever the Dalai Lama arranges a pilgrimage to Buddhist holy places in the Theravada Buddhist world, communist China steps in. No matter how genuine is his wish to visit such pilgrimage sites as ‘a simple Buddhist monk’, the Buddhists in those countries are made to believe that he is a politician and should not be allowed into the country in question for fear of angering giant friend – China. The recent news of Sri Lanka vetoing a proposed visit to the country by the Dalai Lama is an example. The Sri Lankan monks were criticized by critiques for not rallying in support of the proposed visit by the world’s most well known Buddhist monk in their Buddhist country. But obviously, in a war torn country where monks rally in support of government struggle to defeat what they term as Tamil ‘separatism’, it was practically not welcoming for the monks there to see a monk politician (i.e. the Dalai Lama) who has been fighting for that same purpose albeit with a different terminology used – ‘cultural genocide’ (term used by the Dalai Lama). In fact, Sri Lankan monks opposed his proposed visit for comments made by him earlier urging the Sri Lankan Buddhist government to exercise restraint in the final phase of the Tamil issue while failing to comment on the Tamil Tigers suicide missions on innocent civilians. Likewise, the Dalai Lama is most unlikely to get to visit any other Theravada country such-as Thailand or Burma because a visit by such a controversial politician-cum-monk personality is simply unwelcomed by the people there, so to speak.
Considering the above, we can safely assume that the people and the governments in Theravada Buddhist countries simply avoid effective contact and communication with the Dalai Lama either because they don’t want to cut their own legs (by angering China) or because he is no need for them, be it religious or be it political purposes. Or it can be both.
Now the answer to your question would be incomplete if the Monk doesn’t answer the question: why is the Dalai Lama a heartthrob for the West?
Perhaps you should know that the Dalai Lama is ‘world’s most well known Buddhist monk’ (leveled by the Western Media) not because he is ‘a simple Buddhist monk’ but because he is a politician as well who is at war with China, a giant state with rapid economic and military buildup (the Dalai Lama himself attributed his international popularity for his political involvement with China). Some Western people needed the Dalai Lama to meet their genuine spiritual quest for inner peace; and with his openness and broadmindedness, the Dalai Lama succeeded in attracting a large western converts and followers including some well known celebrities, an Buddhist achievement every Buddhist must be proud of but the most conspicuous urgency for the longsighted West was to find a card to play against the ever growing China. And the Dalai Lama is the perfect card for them. Believe it or not, there are other Buddhist monks who can be equal to the Dalai Lama in aspect of wisdom and compassion but they are not well known beyond their respective followers because they don’t play politics in the world’s arena. If you have noticed one thing carefully, you would have noticed that the Western media is keener on the Dalai Lama’s attacks on China than his actual words on Buddhism. Weeks of teaching to a group of monks and nuns by the Dalai Lama would not get media publicity but a single word falling off his mouth directed towards China would be picked up by the western media with no much delay. If he said ten sentences on Buddhism and one sentence on China, what would get media attention is that one sentence attacking China. This is a fact. If you think the Monk is exaggerating, then browse at the Western media coverages and see yourself how many actual words on Buddhism you can find other than columns after columns elaborating on the kind of accusations the Dalai Lama is quoted to have made against China. It is not the western people who actually go crazy about the Dalai Lama (apparently because of his ‘Buddhist’ teachings); it is the Western media (with no apparent interest on Buddhism) who crazes the Western people. After all, remember the philosophy of mass media: publicity stunt and news sensationalisation.
The Western media sensationalizes things by calling the Dalai Lama with names and titles even they are not familiar with. ‘Buddhist leader’, ‘Buddhist pope’ and even the very media introduction of him as ‘the most well known Buddhist monk’ seems for non-Buddhists as if the Dalai Lama is ‘THE BUDDHIST POPE’, an idea which is completely ridiculous and incongruous by average Buddhist standard. Though the Dalai Lama has come to be known as the Tibetan Buddhist leader, representing perhaps only 10-15% of Buddhists of the world, strictly speaking, he is not even a leader of any of the four Buddhist sects of Tibetan Buddhism but he is the Tibetan Buddhist leader by his virtue of being the temporal head of Tibetan people. This is something the Western media misses out.
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