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by Ruth Gledhill
7/29/03
THE Dalai Lama has
admitted that, in a lifetime dedicated to celibacy and non-violence, he
has missed out on sex and that he shoots at hawks in anger.
Asked in an
interview what experiences he had missed that ordinary people had not,
he pointed towards his groin and laughed, saying: "I obviously missed
this."
He was not sorry,
however: "For monks and nuns, the practice of celibacy is not just a
rule. Our target is to try and reduce negative emotions. Sexual desire
and attachment are enjoyable, but act as a basis to anger, hatred and
jealousy."
He was not
convinced that he would have made a good father, admitting to having a
bad temper. That temper led him to aim his air rifle at hawks, he told
Conrad Kiechel, international editorial director of Reader's Digest.
"I feed birds,
peaceful birds. I'm non-violent, but if a hawk comes when I'm feeding
birds, I lose my temper and get my air rifle." He did not shoot to kill,
"only to scare the hawks".
Speaking in
Dharamsala, India, where he has lived since China put down a Tibetan
uprising against communist rule, he admitted to having enjoyed spending
time with Mao Zedong.
"At official
dinners he made me sit beside him and treated me like his son, sometimes
feeding me with his chopsticks.
"I was afraid that
since he coughed so much I would catch something. He was no doubt a
great revolutionary, but at the same time, his behaviour was often that
of a peasant."
He said there was
a softening towards Tibet by the current Chinese regime.
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