"The very purpose of religion is to control yourself, not to criticise others. Rather, we must criticise ourselves. How much am I doing about my anger? About my attachment, about my hatred, about my pride, my jealousy? These are the things which we must check in daily life."
better known in the west as the dalai lama, he is, in fact, the 14th incarnation of that being. he is the leader of the tibetan diaspora. he is the leader of the geluk-pa school of tibetan buddhism. he is not the leader of the other schools(nyingma, sakya, & kagyu). in other words & in context of tibetan buddhism, he is as he's always claimed, "a simple monk." this is NOT to say that he isn't deeply important as the leading figure of the tibetan refugees AND the bearer of important news(ie, liberation from suffering)to westerners. outside of the political arena, i think his most important contribution has been his contact w/western scientists & the various projects that have spun out from that interaction. inside the political arena, his flexibility & tenacity has proven to be an equal match to
the inflexibility & racism of the chinese. to wish him many many more birthdays at this point is tautological. as my lama used to say on his b'day, "this just means there's less time to do what's got to be done."
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