farmdoc's blog post number 482

Dalai means ‘Ocean’ in Mongolian, and Lama is the Tibetan word for ‘guru’. Thus Dalai Lama roughly means ‘Ocean Teacher’, i.e. a teacher as spiritually deep as the ocean. The Dalai Lama is a lineage of Tibetan Buddhist religious leaders. Until 1959, successive Dalai Lamas were political leaders of the Tibetan government. Since 1959, the Dalai Lama’s presided over the Tibetan government in exile. The 14th recognised incarnation of the Dalai Lama, 74-year-old Tenzin Gyatso (pictured) has reigned since 1950 at age 15 – a month after China invaded Tibet. An eloquent and charismatic opponent of China’s takeover of Tibet and an advocate of Tibetan independence, he was awarded the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize, and he’s the first Dalai Lama to visit the West. During his 2007 Australian tour, he met the University of Tasmania’s vice-chancellor who offered to confer an honorary doctorate on him when he visits Tasmania in December 2009. That offer’s since been withdrawn. UTAS collects A$30M a year from Chinese students. Not unreasonably, Senator Bob Brown is asking whether the Dalai Lama’s fight for Tibetan independence affected UTAS’s decision. In a mealy mouthed response, UTAS says the issue was raised in a meeting with Chinese officials, but it had already decided to withdraw its offer. That’s not credible, UTAS, you spineless band of morally deficient sycophants. Don’t make promises you can’t keep.