Danger Lama

I'm not going to try and pretend I fully understand the complicated and tragic relationship between China and Tibet.  It does seem to me that if a group of people, living in a fairly easily defined geographical area want to be their own bosses, they should be allowed to do so (yes, Texas, I mean you too, and Alabama, Mississippi, Florida and South Carolina too if you want).  The Chinese government apparently does not share my generous attitude towards those who don't want join their club.
They consider the Dalai Lama to be a "dangerous separatist."  The Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of Tibet, he is considered to be the latest incarnation of the Buddha and has been exiled from his own country since he was a boy.  You know him you love him, he's this guy:

I know, you're thinking I just went and found a picture of the Dalai Lama looking like an adorable laughing old man, but actually it wasn't even hard to do that.  He laughs a lot, he is by all outward appearances a kind and gentle man who talks mostly about how we need to treat each other better than we do, and rarely, if ever, really takes the Chinese government to task for occupying his home for so long.  "Dangerous Separatist."

I confess that the Dalai Lama is on the short list of people living today I would really like to hang out with and talk about faith and humanity. (Desmond Tutu, Pope Francis, Colin Powell and Neil Gaiman are also on that list, maybe we could make that happen). So when I hear that the Chinese government actually severed diplomatic ties with Britain because Prince Charles talked to him (a situation that is in the process of being repaired as we speak), I'm all like, "what is wrong with China?"  If they are hating that hard on the Lama there is something fatally wrong with them, and we don't have to take a Donald Trump / Jim Webb hard-ass approach with them.  Just stand back and watch them implode.

Seriously.  Just stay the heck away from them, they're insane and eventually that insanity is going to bite them.  While I may not be a big fan of Laissez Faire economic policy, I am becoming more of a fan of a Laissez Faire policy when it comes to international political nuttiness. China has been trying to punch at the Dalai Lama for most of his whole life, and he still laughs at them, and I suspect he forgives them and loves them in the special way that only truly holy people can really love their enemies (I know, who would have thunk that Buddhism would be so Christian). 

I keep going back to a little bit of advice my Dad gave me a few years ago: "The Devil always over plays his hand." Which in practice means that when you have an "enemy" that seems overwhelming, a difficult boss at work, a troublesome family member, a totalitarian dictator or a party of obstructionists in the house majority (too specific?), just give them enough rope and let them hang themselves.

It really is remarkable how often and how beautifully it works.  I think that's the truth behind what Jesus says about not resisting the evil doer, it's not that we're just supposed to seek out all the suffering we can find, it is rather that he understood something about the nature of evil. Evil feeds on violence and hatred, so when you react to it with violence and hatred you are not "fighting" it, you are feeding it.

The Chinese government consider the Lama a dangerous man because he gives people hope, because they look at him and see a man who smiles, and loves and forgives despite all the reasons he has to hate and fear and seek revenge.

Keep smiling your Holiness.