Rev. Danny Fisher

There was a simple, remarkable editorial in yesterday’s Boston Globe about a special meeting held in Cambridge between His Holiness the Dalai Lama and more than 100 scholars from China. Here’s a choice snippet:

Drawing a distinction between autonomy for Tibet and political independence, he explained the request his envoys made to Chinese officials last summer, shortly after the violent clashes on the Tibetan plateau in March 2008. He said they had asked only for forms of autonomy consistent with those promised to national minorities in China’s constitution – especially the right to preserve Tibetan language, culture, and religion. Yet Chinese officials falsely accused him of demanding independence for Tibet, calling him a liar and a demon.

The Chinese scholars who crowded around him afterward, snapping photos of themselves with the Dalai Lama, now know he is nothing like the figure depicted in Beijing’s propaganda.

[Image via the Office of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.]