The Dalai Lama has been an active voice opposing nuclear weapons. But after a whirlwind trip touring the tsunami-devastated northeastern patch of Japan for the first time, the religious figure said he is not absolutely against the promotion of nuclear energy.
Instead, the Dalai Lama on Monday said he is in support of using nuclear energy for peaceful means as a way to bridge the socioeconomic gap in developing countries in the absence of more efficient alternative energy sources.
A little more:
He noted that other energy sources like wind and solar are too inefficient to put into realistic practice to meet the needs of fast-developing countries.
The Dalai Lama sounds a bit like a nuclear energy advocates, though the way he advocates can be surprising:
On Monday, he urged people on both sides of the contentious nuclear argument to look at the issue “holistically.” “Just to look at it from one side then to make a decision is not right,” he said. While speaking to the benefits of nuclear energy, however, he underlined the holistic lens needed to be pointed at the issue of risk as well. Nuclear energy specialists “should take maximum sorts of preparations.”
That’s seeing life through your own particular lens, but I can’t imagine anyone disagreeing.
The Dalai Lama was born Llomo Dondrum in 1935 in China and became the 14th Dalai Lama in 1950 - in the kind of Buddhism he belongs to, the current Dalai Lama is the reincarnation of the previous one. His name within the religion is Tenzin Gyatso.
Technically, he is head of state of Tibet, but after the 1959 Tibetan uprising, he left for India, forming an exile government. Although China prefers for him not to be accepted as legitimate by foreign governments, he almost always is accepted.
He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for his advocacy of the Tibetan state and for the rights of Tibetans.
Comments
I think his karma just ran over his dogma.
I suppose if you believe in reincarnation then you can vow to come back over the next several thousand life time to clean up the radioactive mess.
In all fairness to His Holiness, this attribution for the support of nuclear power gets a little fishy given that he just signed "No to Nuclear Power" on the 25th commemoration of the Chernobyl nuclear accident along with other Noble Laureates.(April 26, 2011)
The "No To Nuclear Power" letter states in part:
"On the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine–and more than two months after the massive earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan–we the undersigned Nobel Peace Laureates ask you to invest in a safer and more peaceful future by committing to renewable energy sources. It is time to recognize that nuclear power is not a clean, safe or affordable source of energy."
So, something doesn't jibe here.
Who did the translation at this Japanese meeting anyways, TEPCO?
A later version of the same text includes his name in the list, but it still refers to "nine Nobel Peace Laureates" and this same number appears elsewhere on their website.
Are the NWI people simply not able to count? Or did someone just add the Dalai Lama's name to the list at the last minute?
Personally, I'm more inclined to believe the words of the man himself over some sort of "open letter" that was compiled by an organization that can't even get its own story straight.
So, just for sake of the holistically argument as the Dalai Lama advises, would you stake your claim to the "truth" on nuclear power if it meant cutting this precious planet in half at the total loose to us all?
gunter
Just so we can quit quibbling over documents, please note that it was updated on April 21st with the Dalai Lama signed on, the very busy soul that as he is:
http://nobelwomensinitiative.org/2011/04/no-to-nuclear-power-nobel-laureates/
Sorry gunter but there is no way you can escape our naturally radioactive universe. We are constantly exposed to cosmic and terrestrial radiation and experience even more of it when we fly in a plane or take a trip to Denver. And even humans and the food that they eat are also-- naturally radioactive.
The idea that ionizing radiation is somehow foreign to the human experience and that somehow we can live in a totally radiation free environment is pure fantasy!