Posted on 07/29/2003 3:40:52 AM PDT by mhking
"'At official dinners he made me sit beside him and treated me like his son, sometimes feeding me with his chopsticks.
"'I was afraid that since he coughed so much I would catch something. He was no doubt a great revolutionary, but at the same time, his behaviour was often that of a peasant.'"
Change Mao's name and you would have a scene out ot Bananas! or Zelig.
I always wondered how many chinese grandmothers with palsy have blinded their grandchildren while feeding them with chopsticks?
The origin of Christian warfare was as a response to military Islamic expansion. After that the concept of Christian warfare entered European culture. Students of medieval history know, however, that the Church was a strong restraining factor on warfare. The wars between Catholicism and Protestantism were when the wheels really came off the wagon, and it is clear that such wars were, even though fought on both sides in the name of Christianity, primarily political and clearly nonscriptural.
Because the conditions were different (in southeast asia) Buddhism was not primarily used as a cause for war, but many Buddhists were warriors.
Do we see Christians fighting wars today in the name of Christianity? No. On the other hand, read this: " Today, the future seems more ominous than ever for the 100,000 followers of Tibetan Buddhism who are caught in a half-century of war between local Muslims and Hindus, and between Pakistan and India, for control over the disputed territory. Since the battle of Kargil two years ago, native Buddhists and Tibetan refugees have emerged as India's most effective fighting force along the Line of Control that separates the Indian and Pakistani sectors of Kashmir.
The territorial dispute has since escalated into a full-fledged religious war, with Islamic militants focusing their gun sights on local Buddhists in retaliation for their decisive role in beating back an Islamic attack on Kargil in 1999.
"The Buddhists of Ladakh are the main target of the Kashmiri militants now that the Pandits (Kashmiri Hindus) have been ousted from the Kashmir Valley," said Tsering Samphel, head of the Ladakh Buddhist Association, in the district capital of Leh.
Over the past decade, Islamic separatists routed some 300,000 Pandits out of the Kashmir Valley, the heartland of a once independent kingdom.
Then, in brutal mountain warfare around Kargil, the Kashmiri militants clashed with the Indian Army's Ladakh Scouts, a 4,000-man paramilitary unit of local Buddhists and Tibetan commandos. Just as the fighting erupted at Kargil, the Dalai Lama happened to be visiting the Jivay Tsal, his palatial residence near Choklamsar, the sprawling Tibetan refugee camp outside Leh. According to Tibetan monks and schoolteachers interviewed at the camp, the Tibetan spiritual leader gave his personal blessing to the Buddhist soldiers of the Ladakh Scouts, Indian press accounts also mentioned the Dalai Lama's supportive role.
The Ladakhi and Tibetan troopers were immediately sent to the mountains over the Indus River headwaters. After scaling the icy cliffs, the Ladakh Scouts launched the first successful counterattacks by the Indian side, killing dozens of Muslim militants and pushing the rest back into Pakistan-controlled Baltistan.
"Kargil showed the Buddhists will not flee like the Pandits," said Tsering. "We Buddhists cannot remain as spectators, we will resist."
Hmmm....looks like the religion of peace (Islam) just makes friends whereever it goes.
I would argue that the Dalai Lama has serious anger issues. I don't pretend to be a religious leader and to speak for millions of people, and I sure as heck don't go off shooting at hawks because I'm pissed at something. You may see his behavior as normal, or excuse it because he's human. That's your choice. I have higher standards for religious leaders. Just like I didn't by into the "everybody does it" excuse for Clinton's sexcapades in the WH, I don't cut ANY religious leaders any kind of slack. I have found more people touched by grace living their day-to-day lives than religious leaders telling them what to do.
Caddyshack
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