Tibet and HH Dalai Lama
Pico Iyer writes at ‘New York Review of Books’ on Dalai Lama’s changing views about Chinese rule in Tibet, his wish to move aside and let new blood take over. The long and insightful article is a mix of Dalai Lama’s views and opinions along with Iyer’s observations based on his many travels with the head lama.
“…My trust in the Chinese leadership is this thin now” (he held his fingers a tenth of a centimeter apart). “I really don’t know what I can do.” In the meantime, as he often freely acknowledged in Japan, his “Middle Way” policy—of not seeking full independence from China for Tibet, but only a “genuine and meaningful autonomy,” whereby China could control Tibet’s defense policy and foreign affairs, while Tibetans might enjoy the freedom to take care of their culture, their religion, and their special environment—was coming under more and more criticism. So, he said, he would step aside and allow others to come up with a “new, wiser, realistic” approach.
Read A Hell on Earth by Pico Iyer on New York Review of Books.