In short, the Dalai Lama visited Madison, and the City Council voted to fly the Tibetan flag for him during his visit in spite of the Chinese consul's objections. There are about 500 Tibetan-Americans in Dane County, mostly refugees who arrived through a resettlement program.Wisconsin is a pretty tolerant place -- especially Madison -- but I think that was a mistake. As a spiritual leader, I think the Dalai Lama should be welcomed, but the Tibetan flag should not be flown. Why?
First, Buddhism doesn't have a flag. While the article claims the Dalai Lama is the spiritual and temporal leader of the Tibetan people, we are not Tibetans. For us, his presence needs to come with a distinction -- he is either a religious leader or a political one. If he is here for religious reasons, there is no reason to fly a political flag. If he is here for political reasons, he should not be welcomed at all.
The Tibetan flag has too many political connotations. As the flag of a now defunct state, a land conquered by the People's Republic of China in 1949, it is a political symbol that belongs in a museum as a relic of the past. It does not belong on top of the Wisconsin capitol building welcoming a religious leader.
Second, it's a diplomatic faux pas. The Dalai Lama is a political exile from the Chinese state, and while his presence as a religious leader would be none of their business, flying the Tibetan flag is incendiary to the Chinese government. It's as inappropriate as flying the Confederate flag over a government building for some prominent American rascist.
As an alternative, we could come up with a different flag for him, something with a Buddhist symbol that has no political connotations for the Chinese. Perhaps something ... like a Buddhist manja on it? Do you think flying a flag like this over the state capitol would be OK?
Maybe not.
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