Published by: World Tibet Network News , Wednesday, June 18, 1997

Asia Times, June 11, 1997

David DeVoss, Los Angeles

Amid spinning prayer wheels, bouquets of burning incense, fluttering scarves called katas and a phalanx of bodyguards lead by actor Richard Gere, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, arrived in San Francisco this week for three days of teachings that included a seminar on the power of nonviolence, an elaborate Peace Concert and a series of lectures focusing on how Buddhism could help contain the violence eating away the United States' inner cities.

The Dalai Lama's arrival in San Francisco is the culmination of a three-week tour of the US that took him from New York and Denver to Los Angeles, where his lectures were translated into English, Vietnamese and Mandarin for Southern California's Buddhist community.

_I'm very happy to be in the presence of my Chinese brothers and sisters," the Dalai Lama said before an audience of 3,000 packed into a basketball pavilion at the University of California (UC) at Los Angeles. _For many centuries Tibet and China lived harmoniously together. From the depth of my heart I believe we must again reach a peaceful understanding."

Although his lectures, and the questions he accepted from the audience, pertained mostly to Buddhist theosophy, many members of the audience shared Tibet's human rights concerns.

_Some Chinese still feel that Tibet belongs to China, but that's old, unenlightened thinking," said Ting Huang, a Los Angeles chemical engineer who represents the Paris-based Federation for a Democratic China.

_Since Tiananmen, we have come to realize that human rights are universal.

Chinese and Tibetans are being oppressed by the same entity," he said.

In Asia the Dalai Lama is a controversial figure; a politicized icon who serves as an uncomfortable remainder of Chinese aggression. But here in the US, the bespectacled 71-year-old spiritual leader is seen as a symbol of hope.

In Los Angeles, celebrities such as Gere, Steven Seagal, Sharon Stone and Shirley MacLaine will gladly pay thousands of dollars for the honor of sitting in his presence.

But the Dalai Lama also is revered in more provincial places like Santa Barbara, where 500 citizens collected donations ranging from US$10 to US$50,000 toward a goal of $350,000 to finance the 14th Dalai Lama Endowed Chair for Tibetan Buddhist and Cultural Studies at the local university.

_I don't know of any other university-endowed chair funded by local residents," said Richard Hecht, director of the UC Santa Barbara religious studies department. _People here are modern and secular, but they appreciate the de-manding meditative tradition and intellectual rigor of Tibetan Buddhism."

Never before has Tibet had such a high profile. Last summer, 100,000 people attended a two-day Free Tibet concert in San Francisco. This past weekend saffron-robed monks mingled with musicians from Porno for Pyros and the Foo Fighters at a Tibetan Freedom Concert on Randall's Island in New York.

_Music is the bait," said Beastie Boy Adam Yauch, who conceded that his teenage fans were paying US$40 to hear rock tunes, not political appeals. _But once people are here we try to raise their awareness so they'll help preserve a culture that's on the verge of being wiped out."

No fewer than four films are now being made about the isolated mountain kingdom. Two of them - Martin Scorsese's Kundun, which is based on the life of the Dalai Lama, and Seven Years in Tibet, starring Brad Pitt, are Hollywood productions specifically edited for global distribution.

_For the first time ever, Tibet is on the verge of entering Western popular culture," said Orville Schell, a China scholar now serving as dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at UC Berkeley. _Hollywood arguably is the most powerful force in the world."

While some celebrities in Hollywood love the Dalai Lama because it is the popular thing to do, the Dalai Lama has said he loves Hollywood stars for who they are - regardless of the fact that they produce violent movies, write misogynistic songs and commit most of the seven deadly sins. _They are showing their concern and showing their sense of caring of other human brothers and sisters when they pass through these difficulties," he said. _Los Angeles is a big city with a huge population and a competitive society. Some sort of problem will always be there."

In fact, Tibet has all the elements of a celluloid blockbuster: An impoverished land occupied by a powerful aggressor, a patient population famous for its spirituality; the mysterious Shangri-La under siege. _The Tibetans are the baby seals of the human rights movement," said Robert Thurman, a former monk-cum-Columbia University scholar, whose actress daughter Uma is serving as an honorary chairman of Tibet House in New York.

Monks attending the Dalai Lama at various stops are encouraged by all the popular support, but San Francisco Lama Lodru Rinpoche said he would prefer to see change occur in China.

_America is starting to believe in the Dalai Lama, but Beijing has the opposite idea," he said. _I only hope the Dalai Lama's humanity will be accepted by China's leaders."