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I¡¦m still a Marxist, Dalai Lama says
HARMONY FROM THE HEART: The Dalai Lama said that although
capitalism had improved the living standards of millions of Chinese people,
Marxism had ¡¥moral ethics¡¦
AFP, NEW YORK
Saturday, May 22, 2010, Page 5
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Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama speaks
during his teachings on two Buddhist texts about developing compassion at Radio
City Music Hall in New York on Thursday.
PHOTO: EPA
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said on Thursday that he is a Marxist,
yet credits capitalism for bringing new freedoms to the communist country that
exiled him ¡X China.
¡§Still I am a Marxist,¡¨ the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader said in New York,
where he arrived with an entourage of robed monks and a heavy security detail to
give a series of paid public lectures.
Marxism has ¡§moral ethics, whereas capitalism is only how to make profits,¡¨ the
Dalai Lama, 74, said.
However, he credited China¡¦s embrace of market economics for breaking
communism¡¦s grip over the world¡¦s most populous country and forcing the ruling
Communist Party to ¡§represent all sorts of classes.¡¨
Capitalism ¡§brought a lot of positive to China. Millions of people¡¦s living
standards improved,¡¨ he said.
OPTIMISTIC
The Dalai Lama, giving a series of lectures at the Radio City Music Hall in
central Manhattan until tomorrow, struck a strikingly optimistic note in
general, saying that he believed the world is becoming a kinder, more unified
place.
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His Holiness the Dalai Lama laughs as he speaks to reporters
during a press conference in New York on Thursday.
PHOTO: EPA
Anti-war movements, huge international aid efforts after Haiti¡¦s earthquake this
year, and the election of Barack Obama as the first black president in a once
deeply racist United States are ¡§clear signs of human beings being more mature,¡¨
he said.
¡¥ONENESS¡¦
The Dalai Lama said he felt a ¡§sense of the oneness of human beings,¡¨ jokingly
adding: ¡§If those thoughts are wrong, please let me know!¡¨
Although China, which forced him to escape for his life in 1959, is loosening
up, he had harsh words for a communist leadership that he said still seeks to
rule by fear.
As Chinese become richer, ¡§they want more freedoms, they want an independent
judiciary, they want to have a free sort of press,¡¨ he said.
FEAR AND FORCE
The Chinese government, he said, seeks harmony, ¡§but harmony must come out of
the heart, not out of fear. So far, methods to bring harmony mostly rely on use
of force.¡¨
Asked why tickets to his lectures are selling for as much as hundreds of
dollars, the Dalai Lama said none of the money went to him personally.
¡§You should ask the organizer. I have no connection,¡¨ he said.
He said he was ¡§always asking the organizer: tickets must be cheap. For myself,
I¡¦ve never accepted a single dollar like that.¡¨
Some of the money goes to charities, such as hunger relief, he said.
¡§Unfortunately,¡¨ he added, bursting into his trademark laughter, sometimes the
¡§organizations are a little richer.¡¨
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