Dalai Lama Interview.

For our class "pot luck" today, i read an interview with the Dalai Lama that was conducted in 1993. The interview gives the reader a sense of what the Dalai Lama is like as a human being and not just an authority figure. One of the biggest shockers was how he viewed conflict of the Gulf War and the part that Saddam Hussein played in it. While he states that he is a bad man, the Dalai Lama points out that an army carries out his action and one cannot have an army without weapons. These weapons were not manufactured in Iraq, but in Western countries. While I agree that weapons were provided to Iraq, it was there choice to use them in a negative manner. As well as war he gave his opinion on birth control and abortion. The Buddhist belief is that taking life is negative, but the Dalai Lama seems to think, on the subject of abortion, it depends on circumstance. I identify completely with him on his point of view when dealing with abortion. Having an abortion because one inconveniently got pregnant is wrong, but if there are circumstances where the child will not lead a full and happy life or there is risk of harm to the mother, it should be permissible. The Dalai Lama admits that his biggest fault is laziness, but it is how he defines laziness that makes this point interesting. Laziness is not simply lying around and doing nothing. The Dalai Lama sees laziness as not completing tasks such as mastering the English language as he points out. The interview concludes with something peculiar. A man who represents peace and universal happiness has a strange fondness for things dealing with WWII. He states that because the subject material is so violent and gruesome it reaffirms his belief in non-violence for the future.