Dalai Lama ready to give up political power - Polidicks

[quote](CNN) -- The Dalai Lama announced Thursday his plan to retire as political head of the exiled movement, according to his website. "Tibetans need a leader, elected freely by the Tibetan people, to whom I can devolve power," the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader said in a statement. "Now, we have clearly reached the time to put this into effect." He said he will formally propose amendments to the Charter for Tibetans in Exile to make the change at the upcoming session of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile that begins Monday. If the changes are made, leadership of the group would be passed to an elected leader. The Dalai Lama told CNN in October that he would like to retire at some point. Read more: [url]http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/09/india.dalai.lama/index.html[/url][/quote] Kind of sad to see such a great and respected leader going into retirement.

Oh nooo. Does this pose any potential troubles for Tibet?

[QUOTE=ironman17;28527343]Oh nooo. Does this pose any potential troubles for Tibet?[/QUOTE] It could solidify the Chinese occupation of Tibet.

Big shoes to follow

religious leaders shouldn't be involved in politics anyways imo.

Welp, this is going to go into the Penn & Teller's: Bullshit of Bullshit. This Dalai Lama is seriously cool.

I think it's a little sad that china is oppressing one of the world's leaders of peace.

I hope they elect someone with the same amount of experience and ideas at least on par with the Dalai Lama.

The Dalai lama only wants Tibet free so he can rule it in luxury whilst everybody else lives in squalor.

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;28532052]The Dalai lama only wants Tibet free so he can rule it in luxury whilst everybody else lives in squalor.[/QUOTE] And you are basing that on....what?

namaste

[QUOTE=Timebomb575;28532073]And you are basing that on....what?[/QUOTE] This somewhat decrepit and small slum. He and his predecessors used to live here until he got booted out. [img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Potala_from_SW.jpg[/img] As you can see, it was a princely sum to construct.

[QUOTE=privatesmily;28529580]religious leaders shouldn't be involved in politics anyways imo.[/QUOTE] Agreed, but then again he isn't really religious in the sense of western religions. He's a spiritual man that doesn't actually have any bullshit beliefs. It's more a way of life than anything. Which is perfectly ok with me.

[QUOTE=GameCube;28527334]Kind of sad to see such a great and respected leader going into retirement.[/QUOTE] No, it's an amazing change of pace for a leader to effectively say that divine right is bullshit, and that democracy is a superior system.

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;28532052]The Dalai lama only wants Tibet free so he can rule it in luxury whilst everybody else lives in squalor.[/QUOTE] Doesn't this very action demonstrate that the Dalai Lama DOES NOT want to rule in luxury, or even rule at all?

[QUOTE=Cell;28536723]Doesn't this very action demonstrate that the Dalai Lama DOES NOT want to rule in luxury, or even rule at all?[/QUOTE] On the face of it, yes, but a free tibet would still mean luxury for the Dalai Lama.

Perhaps a free Tibet would result in the Dalai Lama living in a state of luxury, but we mustn't forget the fact that China is relentlessly raping Tibet of its resources and is trying to replace its populace with Han Chinese. A free Tibet with the Dalai Lama back in a position of comfort would certainly be preferable to the current situation.

[QUOTE=Cell;28536903]Perhaps a free Tibet would let the Dalai Lama live in a state of luxury, but we mustn't forget the fact that China is relentlessly raping Tibet of its resources and is trying to replace its populace with Han Chinese. A free Tibet with the Dalai Lama back in a position of comfort would certainly be preferable to the current situation.[/QUOTE] I'm not saying that this isn't a good thing, or that Tibet shouldn't be free, only how Sobotnik might have come to his conclusions.

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;28532505]This somewhat decrepit and small slum. He and his predecessors used to live here until he got booted out. [img_thumb]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Potala_from_SW.jpg[/img_thumb] As you can see, it was a princely sum to construct.[/QUOTE] He didn't construct the Potala palace, so the sum that it took to construct is a non factor if you're trying to analyze this as being a greedy act. It'd be just like saying Obama is a wealthy industrial robber baron because his office gives him the right to live in the white house. It's rather ignorant to say that he's in it for the wealth when he's been so outspoken about improving the quality of life of the poor. I hope you're just trolling.

Good, that bastards one horrible person. He was freaking banned for what he did in the east.

[QUOTE=dranei;28537019]He didn't construct the Potala palace, so the sum that it took to construct is a non factor if you're trying to analyze this as being a greedy act. It'd be just like saying Obama is a wealthy industrial robber baron because his office gives him the right to live in the white house. It's rather ignorant to say that he's in it for the wealth when he's been so outspoken about improving the quality of life of the poor. I hope you're just trolling.[/QUOTE] He didn't construct it, but he doesn't seem to have any issues with living there whilst the rest of the population had it fairly bad. The region of Tibet is run much more better under China than some strange man in a bunch of robes.

do you even know who the dalai lama is or is this the same bullshit with art again fyi he's not the leader

[QUOTE=dranei;28537019]He didn't construct the Potala palace, so the sum that it took to construct is a non factor if you're trying to analyze this as being a greedy act. It'd be just like saying Obama is a wealthy industrial robber baron because his office gives him the right to live in the white house. It's rather ignorant to say that he's in it for the wealth when he's been so outspoken about improving the quality of life of the poor. I hope you're just trolling.[/QUOTE] Obviously you've read nothing on how pre-PRC annexed Tibet was run.

Hes still alive? Well shit.

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;28542884]He didn't construct it, but he doesn't seem to have any issues with living there whilst the rest of the population had it fairly bad..[/QUOTE] Jesus fucking christ you are dense Dalai lama and his folks didn't live in middle of riches in that palace/temple, they spent their days meditating and helping people. They didn't have fucking plasma-TV's, sofas, and 5.1-surround system home-theatre, nor did they have 25 different sports car or swimming pool. They sleep on sheets laid on the floor damnit [QUOTE=Sobotnik;28542884]The region of Tibet is run much more better under China than some strange man in a bunch of robes.[/QUOTE] And all credibility was lost right here

[QUOTE=Raiskauskone V2;28543892]Jesus fucking christ you are dense Dalai lama and his folks didn't live in middle of riches in that palace/temple, they spent their days meditating and helping people. They didn't have fucking plasma-TV's, sofas, and 5.1-surround system home-theatre, nor did they have 25 different sports car or swimming pool. They sleep on sheets laid on the floor damnit And all credibility was lost right here[/QUOTE] Before China re-annexed Tibet to be part of their nation, slavery was still practised, poverty was common and most of the population was illiterate. With the Chinese, all sorts of improvements are being made (Industrializing, infrastructure, etc) even if the Chinese government is somewhat repressive it is better today than it was under the Dalai Lama.

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;28544314]Before China re-annexed Tibet to be part of their nation, slavery was still practised, poverty was common and most of the population was illiterate. With the Chinese, all sorts of improvements are being made (Industrializing, infrastructure, etc) even if the Chinese government is somewhat repressive it is better today than it was under the Dalai Lama.[/QUOTE] Hey man, at least they were free, don't be hatin' on the free people, with your fancy computers and your book learnin!

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;28544314]Before China re-annexed Tibet to be part of their nation, slavery was still practised, poverty was common and most of the population was illiterate. With the Chinese, all sorts of improvements are being made (Industrializing, infrastructure, etc) even if the Chinese government is somewhat repressive it is better today than it was under the Dalai Lama.[/QUOTE] All those improvements are for the Han Chinese they're colonizing the place with.

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;28544314]Before China re-annexed Tibet to be part of their nation, slavery was still practised, poverty was common and most of the population was illiterate. With the Chinese, all sorts of improvements are being made (Industrializing, infrastructure, etc) even if the Chinese government is somewhat repressive it is better today than it was under the Dalai Lama.[/QUOTE] yeah first of all not even the bloody point, seeing as today tibet is still in an utterly horrible condition. second of all that's no reason to not support tibetan independence

[QUOTE=thisispain;28550463]yeah first of all not even the bloody point, seeing as today tibet is still in an utterly horrible condition. second of all that's no reason to not support tibetan independence[/QUOTE] Doesn't really need independence though, it had a history as a nation and now it can settle down to be a part of one. Every nation in the world should be slowly centralizing and and turning former nations into regions anyways.