By A.M. ROSENTHAL

New York Times

Sept. 15, 1995

For some time I have been trying to think and act like the Dalai Lama.

I figured that if the way he behaves is good enough for him, as the spiritual and national political leader of his country, then as a supporter of Tibet's struggle for life and freedom, I would do the same.

Like him, I would be strong in opposition to the Chinese Communists, who have been in murderous occupation of Tibet going on half a century. But, like him, I would remain courteous withal, wish their nation only good things, with never a cruel word.

Like him, I would stick to proposals for compromise and conciliation even after the Communists spat on them.

Something else: I would be good hearted when the president of the mighty American republic is so nervous about offending Beijing that he won't have him in his personal or official quarters. President Clinton kind of just drops into Al Gore's office for a few minutes when the Dalai Lama is there. Like the Dalai Lama, I would just say that is the way the United States wants it, I accept without complaint.

Yes, I have been practicing for some time. It's been going on a whole day. I started after seeing him again in Washington. But I am just not making it. I am getting worn out trying.

When I think of what the Chinese have been doing to this peaceful people - killing, torturing, pillaging - my heart and mind are still full of anger, an emotion the Dalai Lama tries to remove from his being. When I think of how the world has barely noticed the ouster of millions of Tibetans from their own land and their replacement by handpicked Chinese, when I think that the nations have cut Tibet off from any help, I still am heartsore that nobody mentions the genocide, ethnic cleansing and unwritten embargo that are destroying this lovely land in the Himalayas.

And as an American I am positively loaded with rancor about the mingy, stingy, cringy way the administration treats the Dalai Lama and Tibet. It would be more honest if it just said it wants no part of this freedom struggle because it would cost us trade with the Chinese than for the president to sidle, press-less, toward Gore's office.

Shame is still in me, not calm acceptance, about our official duplicity. One moment the president expresses support - in a press release, not with his own mouth - for the Dalai Lama's efforts at compromise. (The Dalai Lama is willing to talk about self-rule, not outright independence, for his people; not all rejoice.)

Meanwhile, a deputy assistant secretary of state has to say what he knows is not true - that the Dalai Lama, the personification of Tibet's nationhood, is not a ``political leader or political figure.'' We don't recognize him, we swear! So Beijing, master dear, do not hit us if we chat with him in a borrowed office. Lord, no job really seems worth it - a lie and a grovel in the same paragraph.

About two million out of six million Tibetans killed or forced out of their country. Thousands more tortured, today, in prison camps. Centuries-old monasteries burned. Whole provinces stolen outright, transferred to China.

Who cares about the Dalai Lama and his people? Ted Koppel wondered aloud about that when he put him on the air Wednesday night. But he put him on, which is what counts.

And more Americans care and count than you might imagine. My mail tells me that, and the kind of people I met at a reception for the Dalai Lama in Washington. I saw members of Congress, Democrat and Republican; thank Heaven for Congress's diversity. Almost always some members rise to fight for freedom, when administrations cower.

American businessmen were in the room, and lawyers, teachers, artists, actors, a hall full of busy men and women who give of their time, money and affection to Tibet through the International Campaign for Tibet, as you can: 1735 I St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20006 (202-785-1515).

I first saw the Dalai Lama in India, in 1957, a young man paraded from platform to platform, a captive of the Chinese Communists. Two years later he escaped, to speak for his people all over the world. He is 60 now. His voice does not falter, nor his humor or strength or sense of what I think is universal compassion.

So I did not make it to behaving like the Dalai Lama. But it's all right. I still get to wear my Tibet lapel pin.