Hell No, Dalai

There is an article making the rounds in which the Dalai Lama (apparently) supports (or at least does not condemn) the assassination of Osama bin Laden. I think that it is a great mistake to make too much of this.

I hesitate to tread much further. There is probably no greater icon of compassion than the Dalai Lama, admired by people across many different religions, political views, and cultural backgrounds. Who am I to questions his pronouncements? How can I possibly challenge the smiling saint's profundity? Is this what Christopher Hitchens felt like when he began his attack on Mother Teresa? (I doubt it. I imagine that Hitchens enjoyed it all immensely, and felt little or no trepidation. I feel a great amount of trepidation, but I must also admit to a tiny thrill; I don't often display such chutzpah).

Actually, I'm not criticizing nor challenging the profundity of the Dalai Lama. There are many factors to consider. For one thing, the article has only a very small excerpt of his words. Context and clarification are issues. Second, there is the question of precise translation. What I am really challenging is the spin that is put on the words that were chosen for the report. And if it turns out that the Dalai Lama agrees with how the article is using his words...well, then, maybe I am challenging him.

Let me state it flatly: I do not find the quotation attributed to the Dalai Lama even slightly profound or insightful. If anyone else had said it, I think it would have been just one more vague post amongst the millions posted on the subject from people doing their best to make sense of this event.

From the article:

As a human being, Bin Laden may have deserved compassion and even forgiveness, the Dalai Lama said in answer to a question about the assassination of the Al Qaeda leader.

As a human being? What other category might bin Laden fit in? And if he has somehow sunk below humanity based on his crimes, why waste precious breath talking about the forgiveness he deserves. As a human being, bin Laden deserves forgiveness...and you can just feel the "but" coming. As another famous saint, Dr. Phil says, when a sentence has a "but" in it, you can ignore everything that came before the "but".

Forgiveness doesn’t mean forget what happened.

Is he really recycling the tired old phrase of the unforgiving: I may forgive but I won't forget? And if he takes the time to tell us what forgiveness is not, couldn't he also take the time to tell us what it is in this situation. Forgiveness is not peach cobbler, either, but that doesn't get us very far. And we should know what it is, since the Dalai Lama affirmed--remember, way back there before the "but"?--that bin Laden deserved it.

If something is serious and it is necessary to take counter-measures, you have to take counter-measures.

This provides no insight into this situation. One would first have to answer the "ifs" and define “something” and “serious,” and then describe "counter-measures" and then decide if said counter-measures are truly effective in addressing the "something" that is "serious."

Here’s my haiku translation of the Dalai Lama’s less-than-profound pronouncement:

If you deem something
necessary to do, think
Nike: just do it

So why make a big deal about this? Precisely because of the importance people attribute to the Dalai Lama's words. Precisely because the slant of this article could lead people to believe that it provides some sort of Buddhist Seal of Approval to the War on Terror. Precisely because people could be lulled into believing that the words really say something. As far as I can tell, they say nothing at all.

Let's not fabricate great meaning where there is only emptiness. Emptiness has its own profundity, I suppose...but I'll leave that to the Dalai Lama.