Monday, January 21, 2013

Cathy Lynn Grossman — 'I'm a Marxist,' Dalai Lama tells Chinese students

Tsering Namgyal, a journalist based in Minneapolis, was jolted by the Dalai Lama's talk to 150 Chinese students this month at the University of Minnesota. Writing at Religion Dispatches, he says:
"Midway through the conversation, His Holiness, much to their surprise, told them 'as far as socio-political beliefs are concerned, I consider myself a Marxist ... But not a Leninist,' he clarified."
USA TODAY — Faith and Reason
'I'm a Marxist,' Dalai Lama tells Chinese students
Cathy Lynn Grossman | USA TODAY

2 comments:

Roger Erickson said...

so, was Marx a closet Buddhist?

Tom Hickey said...

Marx was against normative religion, as the Dalai Lama observes later in the post.

At their spiritual core all religions and wisdom traditions are essentially the same.

On the normative surface, religions are means of social control, and eventually most devolve into businesses.

Marxism is a humanistic religion. Buddhism is a transcendental religion. Both are non-theistic, and core Marxism is a lot more dogmatic than core Buddhism.