When the Bush Administration announced that the Dalai Lama would be honored with the Congressional Medal - the highest Civilian Honor - political big-wigs expected a fall out, but not of the magnitude which unfolded in recent days.
On the eve of the ceremony, Chinese Officials released a stern statement expressing their disapproval.
Arguing that relations between the United States and China would be threatened, demands were made that the Medal be "revoked".
When it was determined that President Bush would also meet with the Dalai Lama at the White House, Chinese Foreign Minister Yan Jiechi lamented to reporters that the arrangements were "extremely wrong".
He vigorously asserted that,
"It seriously violates the norm of international relations and seriously wounds the feelings of the Chinese people and is interfering with China's Internal Affairs."
Not by any stretch of the imagination!
Imagine, the audacity!
In spite of the fact his Holiness has been exiled from Tibet for many decades, his existence at large - and the fact he is so exalted around the globe - stirs up deep-seated anxiety in the Chinese.
Because the issue was expected to be a touchy one, the Oval Office made it quite clear that the U.S. Government action was not based on "political issues"; indeed, Bush's aides fervently noted that the Dalai Lama was being accorded the honor because, in the words of the administration, Mr. Bush felt,
"He should be honored as a great spiritual leader."
The harsh stance of Chinese officials is rooted in their misguided belief that the Dalai Lama is a "splittest", intent on undermining the Chinese rule by working for the independence of Tibet.
In fact, the Dalai Lama has asserted publicly that he is only "seeking to expand autonomy", not establish a separate state.
Bush's administration turned a deaf ear to China's arguments that the scheduled ceremony was essentially a slap in the face.
In an effort to calm the waters, officials at the White house noted that the President often holds private meetings with spiritual leaders - like the Pope, for instance.
His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, was born Lhamo Thondup on July 6th, 1935, to a poor family in the small village of Taktser in the province of Amdo.
The name, Lhamo Thondup, literally means ‘Wish-Fulfilling Goddess’.
His Holiness is held to be the reincarnation of each of the previous thirteen Dalai Lamas of Tibet (the first having been born in 1351 AD), who are in turn considered to be manifestations of Avalokiteshvara, or Chenrezig, Bodhisattva of Compassion, holder of the White Lotus.
Thus, His Holiness is also believed to be a manifestation of Chenrezig; in fact, the seventy-fourth in a lineage that can be traced back to a Brahmin boy who lived in the time of Buddha Shakyamuni.
When Lhamo Thondup was barely three years old, a search party that had been sent out by the Tibetan government to find the new incarnation of the Dalai Lama, arrived at Kumbum monastery after it was discerned there had been a number of auspicious signs.
One of these concerned the embalmed body of his predecessor, Thupten Gyatso, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, who had died aged fifty-seven in 1933. During its period of sitting in state, the head was discovered to have turned from facing south to northeast.
Shortly after that - the Regent, himself a senior lama - had a vision.
Looking into the waters of the sacred lake, Lhamo Lhatso, in southern Tibet, he clearly saw the Tibetan letters Ah, Ka and Ma float into view. These were followed by the image of a three-storied monastery with a turquoise and gold roof and a path running from it to a hill. Finally, he saw a small house with strangely shaped guttering.
He was sure that the letter Ah referred to Amdo, the Northeastern Province, so it was there that the search party was sent.
By the time they reached Kumbum, the members of the search party felt that they were on the right track. It seemed likely that if the letter Ah referred to Amdo, then Ka must indicate the monastery at Kumbum, which was indeed three-storied and turquoise-roofed.
Now, they needed to locate a hill and a house with peculiar guttering. So they began to search the neighbouring villages. When they saw the gnarled branches of juniper wood on the roof of the His Holiness’ parent’s house, they were certain that the new Dalai Lama would not be far away.
Nevertheless, rather than reveal the purpose of their visit, the group asked only to stay the night.
The leader of the party, Kewtsang Rinpoche, then pretended to be a servant and spent much of the evening observing and playing with the youngest child in the house.
The child recognised him and called out ‘Sera lama, Sera lama’.
Sera was Kewtsang Rinpoche's monastery.
The next day they left only to return a few days later as a formal deputation.
This time they brought with them a number of things that had belonged to the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, together with several similar items that did not.
In every case, the infant correctly identified those belonging to the Thirteenth Dalai Lama saying, “It’s mine. It’s mine.”
The search party was jubilant; the boy was taken to Kumbum monastery, and later recognized at the new incarnation of the Dalai Lama.
At 15, the Dalai Lama found himself the undisputed leader of six million people facing the threat of a full-scale war.
For nine troublesome years, His Holiness tried to evade a full-scale military takeover of Tibet by China on the one hand - and the bold-faced effort to placate the growing resentment among Tibetan resistance fighters against the Chinese aggressors, on the other.
His Holiness made a historic visit to China from July 1954 to June 1955 for peace talks, and met with Mao Zadong, and Chinese leaders Chou En-lai, Chu Teh and Deng Xiaoping.
One winter day in 1959, General Chiang Chin-wu of Communist China, extended a seemingly innocent invitation to the Tibetan leader to attend a theatrical show by a Chinese dance troupe. When the invitation was repeated with new conditions that no Tibetan soldiers were to accompany the Dalai Lama, and that his bodyguards be unarmed, an acute anxiety befell the Lhasa populace.
Soon a crowd of tens of thousands of Tibetans gathered around the Norbulingka Palace, determined to thwart any threat to their young leader's life.
On March 17th, 1959 - during a consultation with Nechung Oracle - His Holiness was given an explicit instruction to leave the country.
The Oracle's decision was further confirmed when a divinity performed by His Holiness produced the same answer, even though the odds against making a successful break seemed terrifyingly high.
A few minutes before ten o'clock His Holiness, now disguised as a common soldier, slipped past the massive throng of people along with a small escort and proceeded towards Kyichu river, where he was joined by the rest of the entourage, including his immediate family members.
He's been in exile ever since.
Over the years, the Dalai Lama has published a number of books based on Buddhist teachings.
Generally, the scriptures have been simplified somewhat, to make them more palpable to the West...where eager practitioners have been anxious to seek the truth and wisdom of a philosophy that resonates just as soundly in the modern-day as it did when the Buddha sat under the Bodhi Tree, attaining enlightenment centuries ago.
A favorite quote of the Dalai Lama,"There is no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophies. My brain and my heart are my temples; my philosophy is kindness."
In the final analysis, China has no authority over the Dalai Lama - or any other, spiritual leader or religious being, for that matter; in general, they are not bound by man's laws...all rise above the din, and life's petty, daily skirmishes - buoyed by God's infinite Grace.
The Chinese Military - and juntas like those in Myanmar - can strip a person of status and rights; starve, humiliate, and imprison the body; but, cannot diminish the spirit.
It springs eternal...
