MovieChat Forums > Wheel of Time (2003) Discussion > Westernized Dalai Lama?

Westernized Dalai Lama?

posted 16 years ago by jtaboada
3 replies | jump to latest

I really don't know anything about budism but, apologizing for my ignorance, I had the impression from this film that the Dalai Lama was far more worried to give a good impression and engage on the rituals for his Western and relatively few followers in Viena that for the huge crowds of Asian monks. I know that the reason for he could not preside the ceremonies was a serious illnes, but, without putting this into question, I felt that there was something else in his absence and his short exchange with the public. Of course I don't want to offend anyone, I am just wondering I was the only one to have this impression.

[–] markovici 14 years ago

interesting observation
i partially agree

[–] soupisgoodfood 14 years ago

I'm not sure how you come to that conclusion. Do you have any other reasoning besides a vague feeling?

[–] TemporaryOne-1 13 years ago

I had the same impression as well, because the visual narrative created that dichotomy.

Tenzin Gyatso's health was not the real reason why the Kalachakra Puja/Great Nyingmapa Prayer Congregation in Bodh Gaya was cancelled in 2002. The real reasons were political. The political climate in Bodh Gaya between the Indian governourship of Bihar, the Tibetan Buddhists, and the Ambedkarite Buddhists (Indians from oppressed Hindu castes who embraced Buddhism) has always been 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. So volcanic that Gyatso had no choice but to cancel the Kalachakra initiations.