• DALAI LAMA’S SECULAR COMMISSION

Tenzin Gyatso, the Dalai Lama, has been presented by the Tibetan monks who selected him as an evolved being who has chosen to return to mortal environs to help others in their search for enlightenment. He was enthroned at the age of fifteen, making him Tibet’s political and religious leader. His recent years have found him traveling the world, promoting universal concepts of peace and harmony. This week, the Dalai Lama urged America and other wealthy countries to cut back on their lifestyles stating that happiness would come, not from money and power, but altruism and compassion. He also said “We need Tibetan and Chinese brothers and sisters to meet face to face from time to time.” Such comments and sentiments inevitably raise a difficult question.

The Dalai Lama’s self effacing humor and mannerisms endear him to most listeners. He appears to be a great communicator with an ability to interact personably and directly with those he addresses. Outside his home continent, the world has enveloped this religious leader with a certain aura bordering on secular saintliness. Even the Pope would welcome such sweeping and extensive endowment.

If he is convinced of his own pronouncement that the Chinese government is causing the cultural genocide of Tibetans, then he should take it on as his responsibility to step into the fray, against what his handlers appear to have been counseling him.

Meeting with heads of state, or wealthy and connected supporters from around the world, may be helpful for raising funds and spreading the message, however it does little to move Tibetans toward any resolution with Chinese leaders. If his culture is heading for extinction, then his Tibetan brethren would anticipate that he would use the international goodwill capital he has accumulated, and apply it to some resolution that might welcome his return as a spiritual, rather than as a spiritual and political leader.

The Dalai Lama should take the next available flight to Beijing. Literally, … board a plane and appear, with no preconditions. While China may have its own preconditions for his return to Tibet, his very arrival at Beijing Capital International Airport is a completely different matter, and the event would provide him audience with China’s leadership. Dialogue or communications from afar, and through interlocutors, are ineffective in such a politically charged negotiation. Only through face to face dialogue with those at the center of power will the Dalai Lama have a chance to establish a satisfactory relationship between himself, his Tibetan followers, and China.

Too often lost in the emotional debates and related coverage is the fortuitous reality that Tibet is rich in uranium, boron, gold, zinc, chromium, lithium, copper, magnetite, barite, arsenic, gypsum, and pottery clay. Tibet also presents vast potential as a source of hydroelectric and geothermal energy. Only in Beijing will he be able to conclude agreements that will provide his fellow Tibetans with some influence and participation in the exploitation of the vast abundance of natural resources that could create a region as wealthy as any on Earth.

Lectures in Washington, Los Angeles, Ottawa or Sydney provide positive messages to the world, and enrich his personal presence as a global citizen, however, the Dalai Lama’s most important audience awaits his appearance in Beijing. Their cause would be presented in the most eloquent form, behind closed doors, but under the glare of the international limelight awaiting positive solutions, … the same limelight that will secure his longevity. His success may also find a repatriation of what remains of the Tibetan diaspora.