Sunday , July 13, 2008
BETHLEHEM, Pennsylvania —
The Dalai Lama said that "it's totally wrong, unfair" to call Islam a violent religion.
The Tibetan spiritual leader, appearing Sunday at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, offered a defense of Islam in response to a question about the rise of violent religious fundamentalism. He added that he has made a point of reaching out to Muslims since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The Dalai Lama arrived at Lehigh on Thursday for a series of talks on a 600-year-old Buddhist text. He took a break Sunday to lecture on "Generating a Good Heart," and afterward took questions from Lehigh President Alice P. Gast that had been submitted in advance by the public.
Asked why so many Americans are depressed and anxious, he joked: "I'm the wrong person to ask. You should ask Americans." Then he answered that U.S. society is too competitive and that people always want "something more, something more, something more."
The Dalai Lama, who attracted a capacity crowd of about 5,000, did not mention next month's Beijing Olympics. The Chinese government has demanded that the Dalai Lama express support for the Olympics and repudiate efforts to disrupt them as a condition for continued talks.
China has ruled Tibet since the 1950s. The Dalai Lama, who fled to India amid a failed uprising in 1959, has said he wants some form of autonomy that would allow Tibetans to freely practice their culture, language and religion.
The Dalai Lama, who turned 73 on July 6, said Sunday that he's looking forward to "complete retirement." He joked that he's now considered a "senior most respected adviser" to Tibet's government in exile.
He is scheduled to speak at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia on Wednesday.
An Alternative Viewpoint~
Eight Questions for the Dalai Lama
(which to our knowledge he's never answered by the way)
~ In the Kalachakra Tantra he teaches that Buddhists wage "a war against the "barbaric Dharma" or the monotheistic religions of "Adam, Enoch, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Mani, Mohammed and the Mahdi."
So, what does the Dalai Lama really believe? Here's the Trimondi's excerpt on their website Shadow of the Dalai Lama.
(See link below the following excerpt for more extensive information).
2. Why does the Kalachakra-Tantra, which is supposedly a contributor to a world ecumenical movement and a world ethos, attack the 3 monotheist-semitic religions, especially Islam, named as the enemy of Dharma, and swear a religious war against Islam?
Dalai Lama, one of your basic demands is tolerance of other religions and this has made you to the most famous symbol of the inter-religious dialogue. This is in conflict, however, with many passages in the Kalachakra-Tantral – even though you have publicly promoted this ritual as a contributor to ecumenical thinking. Some of the main figures in the semitic-monotheist religions such as “Adam, Enoch, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Mani, Mohammed and the Mahdi” are characterised as the “family of the demonic snakes” and are attributed with characteristics of darkness and deceit. (Shri Kalachakra I. 154) According to the Shambhala prophecy, the worldwide implementation of the “Buddhist Dharma” (i.e. Buddhism) will be preceded by an eschatological holy war against the “barbaric Dharma” (i. e. Monotheism). The original text states that the powerful, merciless idol of the barbarians, the demonic incarnation (i.e. Islam) lives in Mecca. (Shri Kalachakra I. 154).
Do you not feel, at a time when religious warfare are dictating world politics, that the war against Islam described in the Kalachakra-Tantra could ignite a clash of civilizations? In the Austrian newspaper “News” from 10. October 2002, you say “Islam wants to be counted amongst the world religions and yet pushes forward its claim via aggression – exactly as the Christians did a few hundred years ago. This has nothing to do with religion, but is rather about power. And that was definitely not the Prophet Mohammed’s desire. Religion should not be led by power.” Is your statement not in conflict to the prophecy of the Shambhala war as described in the Kalachakra-Tantra? Why do you say nothing of the potential for aggression, the buddhocratic visions of power and the intolerance in your lamaistic Religion? Why do you commend, as peacemaker, a Buddhist demon, namely Palden Lhamo, who skinned her own son and used his skin as a saddle for her horse because he refused to take on the Buddhist religion? Do you really believe that such role models of horror can promote tolerance? Why are you accused of intolerance and the persecution of religious minorities by the more traditional proponents of Tibetan Buddhism such as the Dorje-Shugden School, which you yourself once attended?
For more... http://www.iivs.de/~iivs01311/EN/deba03.html