Why did a monastery build a wall down its middle? Ask the Dalai Lama Without context this wall might seem like a natural part of the monastery in Southern India’s infrastructure, however it’s meaning is far more disturbing in this modern day. The wall was constructed in March 2008 to separate one group of monks from another. The group who, not much earlier than this, were living in peace and harmony together, practicing the same religious path, are now divided by a nine-foot high wall with no gate, no entryway, and no access to the old road. The wall was originally planned to be five-feet high, the same height as the other walls around the monastery, however some monks complained that they could still see the monks on the other side from the higher floors. What precipitated the building of the wall? Direct orders from the Dalai Lama himself to materially, financially, and spiritually cease to support or associate with any person who refused to adhere to a new ban on a life-long spiritual practice demanded by the Dalai Lama; a practice that was engaged in by monks on both sides of the wall until shortly before the wall was erected. Albeit hard to swallow, given the swaddling of positive press the Dalai Lama is enveloped in in the West, the truth to this statement is well documented on video, in interviews, and various other media forms, however if you plan to ask someone about it, ask a Tibetan and not a Westerner. The Tibetans are well versed in the rules of following the Dalai Lama’s requests, and even Samdong Rinpoche, former Prime Minister of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) told a reporter in a video interview that no one would ever go against the requests or orders of the Dalai Lama. In video footage of a meeting with monks at Trijang Labrang (residence of the Dalai Lama’s own tutor), the Dalai Lama can be heard saying, ‘There will be no change in my stand. I will never revoke the ban. You are right. It will be like the Cultural Revolution. If those who do not accept the ban do not listen to my words, the situation will grow worse for them. You sit and watch. It will grow only worse for them.’ (July 13, 1999) Ultimately the wall symbolizes a religious apartheid, a discrimination of one group of religious practitioners from another, at the hands on one man, which in todays society to any fair-minded person, is completely unacceptable. Nichole Mills
Posted on: Wed, 12 Feb 2014 04:57:21 +0000
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