Goals vary for pope, Dalai Lama

Ryan Dinkgrave

For the past two weeks, the attention of American media has been largely focused on religion, spirituality and philosophy as the country hosted two of the world’s most revered spiritual leaders: the pope and the Dalai Lama. I think their experiences here illustrate how great of a distance exists between their worlds.

With 23.9 percent of the adult population in the U.S. reporting that they are affiliated with the Catholic Church, it is clearly a much larger group than the U.S. Buddhist population, which is about 0.7 percent of adults, according to a recent survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. While the number of adults who identify as Buddhist is greater than the number who indicate they were raised Buddhist, about one-third of American adults are former Catholics. In recent years, the Catholic Church has lost more American followers to other religious and unaffiliated groups than any other religious tradition.

This point was emphasized by the pope in his remarks before 60,000 people at Yankee Stadium, where he pushed for “obedience” to the “authority” of the church. The pope told the audience “real freedom is … the fruit of conversion to his truth,” but in another speech, he endorsed the protection of religious freedom. The Dalai Lama, speaking to almost 10,000 people in Ann Arbor, did not urge people to convert to his beliefs, but to “keep one’s own tradition,” noting that “all different traditions have some potential to bring inner peace.”

While both the pope and the Dalai Lama brought messages on a number of topics, the media largely focused on the controversies that each sect currently is facing. In Boston, the pope met with a few of the more than 13,000 victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests. The scandal, which broke in 2002, involved more than 5,000 priests and has cost the church more than $2 billion in settlements and legal expenses.

After six years of asking the Vatican for such a meeting, a few of the victims finally had their day, though what larger effect, if any, this will have remains to be seen. The pope expressed regret and sorrow about the scandal, but failed to mend relations between the church and the victims, who had hoped to hear about specific steps and actions being taken by the church. Some victims noted that they found the pope’s words inconsistent with the efforts of the Vatican’s lawyers to limit their settlement payments. Rather than making peace of the situation, the pope’s efforts seemed more to stir the confusion about how the church is handling these issues.

The Dalai Lama arrived in the U.S. following protests of China’s occupation of Tibet, and protests of the Olympic torch ceremonies for similar reasons. Since the 1950s, the Dalai Lama and his Tibetan Government in Exile has been living in India while the Chinese government has relocated its people to Tibet. Despite the injustices done to the Dalai Lama and his people, his approach to resolving the problem is overwhelmingly peaceful.

Many of the world’s nations have been putting pressure on China to engage in dialogue with the Dalai Lama, while pro-Tibet protesters shadow the Olympic torch around the world. Still, despite this growing chorus of urgent support, the Dalai Lama has been quick to condemn the violence the Chinese accused him of inciting, even proclaiming he will resign from his position if it escalates further. Where full independence was once the goal for Tibet, the Dalai Lama now seeks cultural autonomy while keeping Tibet a part of China. Unfortunately, China has yet to indicate any willingness to compromise and has instead run a propaganda campaign against the Dalai Lama.

As one spiritual leader is trying to find a compromise with his opposition, the other largely is seen as delivering little more than words to his. I do not believe the two situations are comparable to the extent that one can draw conclusions about the two belief systems based on this situation, but I do believe it illustrates the difference between each of their traditions, values, worldviews and life philosophies.

So far, the accomplishments each seeks — restored confidence in the Catholic Church and Tibetan autonomy — have yet to translate to reality. Though their visits to the media-crazy U.S. were brief, the images they rendered before the public eye during these trips will affect their quests for these goals for years to come. Only time may tell which approach, if any, was the wiser path.

Published on Wednesday, April 23, 2008