“Dalai Lama Fans Clash With Protesters”

[Muriel]

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/17/dalai-lama-fans-clash-with-pro-china-protesters/?module=BlogPost-ReadMore&version=Blog%20Main&action=Click&contentCollection=N.Y./Region&pgtype=Blogs&region=Body&action=click&module=Search&region=searchResults%230&version=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fquery.nytimes.com%2Fsearch%2Fsitesearch%2F%3Faction%3Dclick%26region%3DMasthead%26pgtype%3DHomepage%26module%3DSearchSubmit%26contentCollection%3DHomepage%26t%3Dqry988%23%2Fdorje%2Bshugden%2Fsince1851%2Fallresults%2F1%2Fallauthors%2Fnewest%2F

In 2008, many Shugden practitioners protested to the Dalai Lama for the ban, but were soon shoved away by the police. He mentioned that He used to follow Dorje Shugden, but He stopped in the middle because it was intolerant of other Buddhist teachings. However, He mentioned that He is committed to freedom of speech, freedom of talk, and so He does not care whatever the protesters talk about.

The Dalai Lama must realize that freedom of speech is not the only component that leads to democracy.

What He said during His interview with the New York Times about the freedom of speech was arrogant. He did not explicitly said it, but what He is essentially saying is that He will not listen to and ignore the Shugden practitioners because they don’t follow Him, but He is doing a good job as a democratic leader because at least He is allowing them to say whatever they want to say. But not listening to His people is not an ideal part of democracy. There is no use of Him meeting President Obama and many other democratic leaders in the world if He is not going to listen to what others say.