Althouse: "To be clear, I am in agreement with the Madisonians who think the Dalai Lama’s Buddhist teachings and practices provide a valuable perspective on compassion, achieving happiness and American culture."

March 8, 2016

"To be clear, I am in agreement with the Madisonians who think the Dalai Lama’s Buddhist teachings and practices provide a valuable perspective on compassion, achieving happiness and American culture."

"Even though it’s far from clear that the Dalai Lama and Buddhism make anything like a clean break from the gender-role-bound, homophobic and rule-obsessed approach to faith that so many spiritually yearning Madison liberals reject.... Clearly, the Dalai Lama and Madison like each other, but the Tibetan monk and meditation expert doesn’t always seem to check all the politically correct boxes usually required for Madison’s approval...."

Chris Rickert comments on The Dalai Lama's 10th visit to Madison.

The 1,089-seat venue is sold out for 2 shows — with tickets priced at $80 to $200.

45 comments:

Anonymous said...: The Dalai Lama doesn't have to be PC any more than Muslims do: they all qualify for the Wog Exemption.; 3/8/16, 10:30 AM
YoungHegelian said...: It's interesting how many multi-cultis think you can have an ancient & profound spiritual discipline without, you know, any discipline.; 3/8/16, 10:31 AM
Bob Boyd said...: Tibetan Monasteries are the last bastion of the patriarchy and it's past time they were opened up to female meditation experts looking to prove women can compete with the best of the best.; 3/8/16, 10:36 AM
Bay Area Guy said...: I like the Dalai Lama, and certainly have sympathy for Tibet, compared to the Chi-Coms.

But, I just can't stop thinking of Bill Murray in Caddyshack:

Carl Spackler: So I jump ship in Hong Kong and I make my way over to Tibet, and I get on as a looper at a course over in the Himalayas.

Angie D'Annunzio: A looper?

Carl Spackler: A looper, you know, a caddy, a looper, a jock. So, I tell them I'm a pro jock, and who do you think they give me? The Dalai Lama, himself. Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald... striking. So, I'm on the first tee with him. I give him the driver. He hauls off and whacks one - big hitter, the Lama - long, into a ten-thousand foot crevasse, right at the base of this glacier. Do you know what the Lama says? Gunga galunga... gunga, gunga-lagunga. So we finish the eighteenth and he's gonna stiff me. And I say, "Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know." And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness." So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.; 3/8/16, 10:39 AM
BarrySanders20 said...: Stuttering John from the Howard Stern show interviewed the Dalai Lama and asked "Does anyone ever say to you 'Hello Dolly?'"; 3/8/16, 10:43 AM
Nonapod said...: Sometimes I wish I was as enlightened as Madisonians. It must be great to have all the correct answers all the time.; 3/8/16, 10:44 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: the Tibetan monk and meditation expert doesn’t always seem to check all the politically correct boxes usually required for Madison’s approval...."

good comedians don't have to.

If I ever had the opportunity to see him I would go for the laughs. I don't even have to get the joke.; 3/8/16, 10:45 AM
traditionalguy said...: The attraction is strong for a predominantly atheist community to experience spiritual things that it has avoided so hard to keep a rational reputation. This one allows them an experience with gods under the radar. And he is a nice man.

The irony is that his gods actually hate women.; 3/8/16, 10:45 AM
Rob said...: I'll bet the pope and Billy Graham are kicking themselves for not charging for their appearances.; 3/8/16, 10:48 AM
Henry said...: The Dalai Lama equated abortion to “an act of killing” that “should be avoided.”
Rickerts: 'abortion is a “procedure” integral to women’s health and freedom.'

Rickerts double-quotes "procedure" to emphasize his substitution of it for "an act of killing".

What if Rickerts had written 'abortion is "an act of killing" integral to women’s health and freedom'? That would be a true statement.

Eating meat is also an act of killing integral to human health and freedom. The Dalai Lama does eat meat on occasion. Ironically, some who object to the Dalai Lama's characterization of abortion are more pure than the Dalai Lama on the subject of eating meat.; 3/8/16, 10:50 AM
Anonymous said...: "Tibetan Monasteries are the last bastion of the patriarchy"

The Pope just laughed out loud, but doesn't know why.; 3/8/16, 10:54 AM
David said...: "I have friends who keep telling me how much it costs them to keep me in poverty."

--Ghandi. (a movie quote perhaps not precisely rooted in history.); 3/8/16, 10:54 AM
Wince said...: I wonder if the technical rider of of the Lama's appearance contract says anything about removing the brown M&Ms?; 3/8/16, 11:03 AM
Fernandinande said...: I see extremely nuanced attractive female llamas just about every day.; 3/8/16, 11:04 AM
damikesc said...: Most people who want to free Tibet would be horrified with how a freed Tibet treats others. They weren't sunshine and rainbows.; 3/8/16, 11:04 AM
SteveR said...: Hopefully he'll get to check out Whole Foods to get the full experience.; 3/8/16, 11:45 AM
tim maguire said...: "Even though it’s far from clear that the Dalai Lama and Buddhism make anything like a clean break from the gender-role-bound, homophobic and rule-obsessed approach to faith that so many spiritually yearning Madison liberals reject...."

Nirvana, but only if it's easy.

The 1,089-seat venue is sold out for 2 shows — with tickets priced at $80 to $200.

If you're not wealthy, it's because you were bad in a previous life. God speaks more clearly to the rich.; 3/8/16, 11:50 AM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: Zen In the Art of White Middle-Class Douchery; 3/8/16, 11:51 AM
David Begley said...: What's Lama's cut of the gate?; 3/8/16, 11:56 AM
Meade said...: I think that should be MISTER Lama to you.; 3/8/16, 12:15 PM
Real American said...: leftists are mentally ill; 3/8/16, 12:16 PM
buwaya said...: If the Jesuits had an ounce of marketing talent they would be making a killing on the "Spiritual Exercises". Or for that matter the Salesians or Carmelites.; 3/8/16, 12:23 PM
David said...: Money going to the Dali Lama isn't used to "free Tibet." He uses it to support his government in exile, but long ago officially gave up the goal of a Tibet separate from China. Now the goal is to have an "independent provence" within China.

Several years ago the government in exile had a budget of $25 million. Probably more now.

Mr. Lama takes no salary and supposedly has no private wealth, but of course he does not need any.; 3/8/16, 12:47 PM
glenn said...: At least he doesn't have to pick peaches.; 3/8/16, 12:52 PM
n.n said...: People's qualification of progress varies widely, typically influenced by special and peculiar interests, and personal biases and prejudices.

Buddhism has done a far better job of reconciling moral principles with natural imperatives, than the pro-choice cult that avoids this process altogether, and has resumed the barbaric practices of abortion rites, cannibalistic trials, class diversity, and selective exclusion.; 3/8/16, 12:56 PM
Paddy O said...: Inasmuch as we agree with him, we find him agreeable.; 3/8/16, 1:01 PM
Anonymous said...: Retirement being not too far off, my husband and I have started to plan to make the pilgrimage to Santiago, something we've wanted to do for years.

On the one hand, it's good to see the recent popular revival of the great medieval pilgrimage routes. On the other hand, that they are fashionable means one is likely to fall in with lots of irritating "spiritual" types along the way. My husband and I are worried that we will, alas, return unshriven, what with all our uncharitable attitudes toward people, and the probability of our being completely unable to resist the temptation to troll the hell out of them all the way from Cluny to Santiago.; 3/8/16, 1:05 PM
Marc in Eugene said...: If the Dalai Lama visits Whole Foods, I wonder what he will think about the pre-peeled oranges in plastic?; 3/8/16, 1:09 PM
jr565 said...: the Dalai Lama walks into a pizza shop and says, ‘can you make me ‘one’ with everything?'; 3/8/16, 1:14 PM
Fabi said...: His appearance rider demands that there be no brown M&M's.; 3/8/16, 1:23 PM
el polacko said...: anyone seeking wisdom of the sort dispensed by the dalai lama can save themselves a lot of money by just picking up any random greeting card and pondering the message therein.; 3/8/16, 1:28 PM
buwaya said...: "my husband and I have started to plan to make the pilgrimage to Santiago, "

A very interesting place. Worth a go under any circumstances.; 3/8/16, 2:04 PM
mezzrow said...: Oh, I thought you said Tony Lama. (refastens chaps)

Never mind...; 3/8/16, 2:13 PM
walter said...: Llamas are great protectors of sheep.; 3/8/16, 2:27 PM
mikee said...: If you want to see some more current anticommunist theater, the Dalai Lama's mild Buddhist distaste for the genocide in Tibet has been surpassed by a group called Shen Yun, formed by survivors of the Chinese pogrom against Falun Gong.

Hey, if you're a Madisonian who is gonna protest something from Asia, go all the way and watch two looooong hours of performance art with the repeated, sole message of hatred for the Chinese communists. Think Madison college kids could dig that?; 3/8/16, 2:33 PM
David Begley said...: buwaya

The Jesuits aren't in it for the money. They donate all their income (including book royalties) to their Province.

I personally invite you to the Retreat Center Joe Ricketts is building on the Platte River west of Omaha. The Spiritual Exercises will be the retreat form.; 3/8/16, 3:07 PM
buwaya said...: "The Jesuits aren't in it for the money."

No, but they could be getting some high-volume propaganda.
There's more than one way to clean up.

I did do such a retreat, long ago while at a Jesuit university.; 3/8/16, 3:11 PM
Gusty Winds said...: I had absolutely no idea that the Dalai Lama charged for admission, and according to Bill Murray in Caddyshack he doesn't like to tip either.; 3/8/16, 3:15 PM
Ron Winkleheimer said...: Utter certitude in ones own virtue and superior morality is far superior to any rule-based spirituality.

I fail to see how someone touting their "spirituality" is any different than someone touting their "holiness."; 3/8/16, 4:05 PM
Jason said...: While the Dalai Lama is racking up ticket sales in Yemen, these four women, Catholic nuns who had devoted their livest to working with and serving Yemeni poor of all faiths, were all shot in the head while handcuffed in the care home they operated.

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2016/03/04/mother-teresa-nuns-massacred-by-militants-in-yemen/

But enjoy your Dalai Lama visit, Madison, while you look down your noses at the homophobia of these women.; 3/8/16, 5:46 PM
Douglas B. Levene said...: I'm happy to hear that a few thousand people in Madison want to see His Holiness. Maybe they will learn something from the experience.; 3/8/16, 5:47 PM
Drago said...: Jason: "While the Dalai Lama is racking up ticket sales in Yemen, these four women, Catholic nuns who had devoted their livest to working with and serving Yemeni poor of all faiths, were all shot in the head while handcuffed in the care home they operated."

Jason, you forgot to add the word "courageously" to the description of the crime.

The lefties here get very upset if you don't acknowledge the courage of the islamist terrorists in committing these acts.

Amanda in particular will cite you for your obvious islamophobia. Though, in this particular case, she will probably, possibly, have the good sense to not claim to be defending against islamophobia AND misogyny in the same sentence. It would hurt the narrative.; 3/8/16, 6:25 PM
wildswan said...: "On the other hand, that they are fashionable means one is likely to fall in with lots of irritating "spiritual" types along the way."

Family members have made that pilgrimage three times. It's a pretty tough walk - hot sun, steep hills, day after day. Not at all impossible - just an effort. For this reason or some other there are very few "spiritual" types and a lot of very nice, prayerful people. Look forward to it - they all loved it.; 3/8/16, 8:03 PM
wildswan said...: All the times the Dalai Lama has been to the US and Europe and I have no idea what he says. I'm clearer on the dilemmas of the Everest sherpas as they face snow and tourist avalanches. Probably it is spiritual and so escapes the hearing of the auditors who are on a very refined sort of safari to see (but not hear - stay in the car) a real spiritual leader.; 3/8/16, 8:17 PM
jg said...: If it's not the West, it's the best, according to leftists w/ daddy issues. It's actually quite patronizing.; 3/8/16, 8:23 PM