Originally Posted by
lkfmdc
...Tibetans are not the most forthright people, some will tell you there are no martial arts in Tibet, never were. But do you really think that there was never any fighting art in a distant, hostile land? Or among a people who conquered an empire?
Rereading this thread, I was struck by this comment and it reminded me of a conversation I once had with a Tibetan.
WARNING: The following contains another one of JD's anecdotes thrown in shamelessly to keep this thread alive.
I used to live with a Kagyupa Lama. One day at breakfast we talked about the different military strategies used by Asian and western cultures. Lama Rinchen pointed out that the western approach was to flaunt military capabilities. The Soviet May Day parades and highly visible military exercises typify the "western" approach.
"But in Asia" he said, "we say: 'Oh, we are so poor! So poor! We have nothing! We cannot hurt anyone.' While knowing that there are many caves in the mountains containing missiles."
The way he said this made me think there was something he approved of in the "Asian" approach. Even the dharma is not always taught in a straight forward manner. There is often something of the "Come, let the masters guide you and eventually it will become clear" about Tibetan Buddhism. To those of us more influenced by the Age of Enlightenment this can be distasteful, but I have learned to appreciate the oriental taste for hyperbole and aggrandizement that exists in religion and kung fu as much as anything else. Just know it for what it is.
"Look, I'm only doing me job. I have to show you how to defend yourself against fresh fruit."
For it breeds great perfection, if the practise be harder then the use. Sir Francis Bacon
the world has a surplus of self centered sh1twh0res, so anyone who extends compassion to a stranger with sincerity is alright in my book. also people who fondle road kill. those guys is ok too. GunnedDownAtrocity