Dalai Lama: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

we'd like to talk about someone you may not have thought about for a while the Dalai Lama a man so enlightened he's basically the original woke bei according to a Gallup poll the Dalai Lama is actually the sixth most admired man in America and when you mentioned his name to people in the streets you can see how widely he's revered a lot of respect inspiration from what he says he says like Bloodgood quotes here's some really great quotes about life a lot of good things I guess he's a peaceful man he's about peace okay so he's peaceful admired and has some good quotes that is pretty broad they could be describing either the Dalai Lama or Matthew McConaughey but what what happens when those same people are asked a simple follow-up what would you say the guy now I have no idea I'm not even alive I don't know II just I'm not really sure he's a very important figure for a Buddhist God right no not a God he's a better person he's a life he just said oh like he owes the Dalai Lama money he's alive oh I got to disappear for a while that guy does not around now the Chinese government however have a very different view because instead of vaguely loving the Dalai Lama they very specifically hate him they've referred to him as a wolf in monk's robes and have banned his image they've even retaliated against Americans for even meeting with him Britain's Guardian says China reportedly banned Lady gaga that's because she met with the Dalai Lama in Indianapolis to discuss yoga Wow not only is it incredible that they banned her for that it's incredible that that event happened at all Lady Gaga was with the Dalai Lama in Indianapolis discussing yoga that is only slightly less ridiculous than Elton John meeting ben bernanke on Easter Island to talk about rumors now the Chinese government's hatred of the Dalai Lama stems from its desire to main control of Tibet a region in southwest China and Tibet was something of a celebrity cause in the 1990s there were Tibetan freedom concerts between the Beastie Boys and Richard Gere even brought it up at the Oscars that was when it was this kind of if something miraculous and really kind of movie like could happen here where we could all kind of send love and and truth and kind of sanity did Deng Xiaoping right now in Beijing that he will take his troops and take the Chinese away from Tibet and allow these people to live as free independent people again so but you send this thoughts send this thought out send this thought we send this thoughts we send it out right now oh you know what I'm sorry there's been a mistake the thoughts are actually supposed to be sent to the producers of moon lights this is not a joke moon lights these thoughts are for you [Applause] take the thoughts but but there is a lot about Tibet that you might not actually know for a start it's larger than you probably think China say it's this area but Tibetan exiles will say it's even larger encompassing an area that is roughly a quarter of China so it's very big in a confusing way at which and this is true is also how director Lars von Trier characterized Willem Dafoe's dick seriously he told reporters it's too big everybody got very confused when they saw it well I'm saying yes Tibet is the Willem Dafoe's dick of planet Earth it is surprisingly large the point is China invaded Tibet in 1950 and ever since they've imposed strict controls on the institutions of Tibetan Buddhism their temples and monasteries have been destroyed and hundreds of thousands of Tibetans have been killed and things inside Tibet are still grim when Freedom House scored countries and territories for political rights and civil liberties Tibet came in second worst behind Syria and ahead of both Somalia and North Korea the whole territory is a gross human rights violation which is interestingly another way that lars von trier has described Willem Dafoe's penis and perhaps the clearest sign of just how bad conditions are is the fact that since early 2009 a hundred and forty-six Tibetans have self-immolated in Tibet and China setting themselves on fire in protest to which the Chinese police have been less than sympathetic [Music] when the O'Laughlin German was on fire Chinese producer came and he caught him and bit him because Los Angeles on the fires so the police closer you got on fire so letters the police are demanding the family to Los Angeles a family that they needed a compensation for burning of their own clothes well every part of that is horrifying and China is unlikely to loosen its grip on the region Tibet has incredibly rich resources from gold and lithium to River supplying hydroelectric power and water to over a billion people so they are very sensitive to any perceived threat to their control which brings us back to the Dalai Lama traditionally he's been both a spiritual and political leader of Tibetan Buddhist sort of a cross between a Pope and a president a pope Siddhant if you will but you shouldn't so please don't China has done everything they can over the years to diminish his power he even fled Tibet in 1959 under fear of arrest and he hasn't been back since an escape that was reported at the time by the most British man who has ever lived the young Dalai Lama revered by his people as a living Buddha was reported under arrest by the Rebbe's but according to other sources is safely in hiding one clear effect rebbe tyranny is not wanted by these intensely religious people yes damn that unwanted creepy birds tyranny down with those thieving imperialists and goodnight to Her Majesty's subjects in Bahrain Maltese Rhodesia to make a Barbados Kenya and Uganda nighty night sleepy tight for over fifty years the Dalai Lama has lived in exile in India and he's lived quite a life he's met with the last four presidents and when he was a child FDR gave him a beautiful Patek Phillipe pocket watch which he still has to this day and George W Bush gave him an even greater gift but painting his portrait these portraits and I gave Bush his skills as noticed the same review I give his time as president not bad for a five-year-old now the dalai lama officially stepped down from running the Tibetan government-in-exile in 2011 but he's still have profound importance to the Tibetan people as a spiritual leader and a figurehead and here here is where this story gets absolutely amazing because he's 81 years old so thoughts have inevitably turned to his next reincarnation but it turns out there's a bit of a problem with that and let me explain broadly speaking when the dalai lama dies he reincarnates as a child somewhere on earth and traditionally a key person in the process of finding him is someone called the panchen lama and when the Panchen Lama dies the dalai lama plays a similar role in finding him and so on and so on they're basically playing a buddhist version of hide and seek so the ninth panchen lama helped identify the current Dalai Lama who in turn identified this six year old boy as the Panchen Lama but this is where it starts to get tricky because that boy has not been seen in more than 20 years these are the last known pictures of GERD and choking Nima the boy chosen to be Panchen Lama the Chinese authorities rejected his appointment arrested the boy and his family it's true China kidnapped a six-year-old and no one has heard from him since although just two years ago a senior Chinese official said he is being educated living a normal life growing up healthily and does not wish to be disturbed which is a little suspicious because it sounds like the kind of thing a former child stars publicist would scream into a phone she's growing up healthy living a normal life and those track marks on her arms are just where they inject the vitamins she's she's fine but Jonah didn't stop it just stealing the Panchen Lama if I had another trick up their sleeve in an attempt to discredit the Dalai Lama's choice of one of tibet's top Buddhist spiritual leaders Chinese officials used a 200 year old ceremony to name their own Pancham Lama yes they made their own fake Panchen Lama they basically counterfeited a religious leader like a knockoff handbag that doesn't say coach that says cough and China's tactics here are obvious if they control the Panchen Lama they can use him to pick a new Dalai Lama who might completely coincidentally be very favorable to the Chinese government meanwhile the Dalai Lama understandably is pretty pissed off about this the landing no I want to make clear there as far as my own rebirth is concerned the final authority is myself no one else but obviously not Chinese colonists that is some forceful language - he's basically saying they can make that decision over my dead body except you know specifically not that he's now actually saying that he will either not reincarnate as the Dalai Lama at all or if he does it won't be inside Chinese control Tibet it will be somewhere else which is incredible because that means that when he dies we could plausibly wind up with two rival Dalai Lama's and the already fraught situation in Tibet could spiral out of control and for the time being there is really only one person who can fill you in on what is happening in the Dalai Lama's head but he lives in India and that is a 14 hour flight away and the reason I know that is I went to speak to the Dalai Lama in India enjoy yes I travel to the Himalayan foothills of Dharamsala India a journey that involved considerably more uphill walking cows and monkey traffic than I've been led to believe all to talk with the Dalai Lama about China conditions in Tibet and what comes next for him you holiness it isn't honor to speak to you may I say Tashi Delek thank you how is my pronunciation - I think we're good in my defense I just started learning Tibetan 40 seconds ago let's talk about China because the Chinese government absolutely hates you don't they yes publicly one government official said you're a wolf wrapped in monk's robes and photos of you are forbidden in many places you don't to me look like an evil wolf they just called me sa demon you're a demon oh yeah then I immediately yes I am demon with horns yeah because that's the classic demon right yes I think that's what I look at you that's what they see oh why don't I do one to say that's their freedom I have no say no negative feeling I just feel a laugh like that I practice you see taking others anger suspicion distrust and give them patience tolerance and compassion I practiced that but it seems the Chinese government are particularly good at taking your positivity turning it back into negativity and oppression of the Tibetan people they hand it back to you as it was yes just outside the dalai lama's temple is a local memorial honoring Tibetans who self-immolated in protest against Chinese oppression acts that put him in a very difficult position this is a hard question well the self-immolation that has happened or a hundred and forty Tibetans yes burned themselves it is very very sad indeed yes why is it hard for you to definitively tell them to stop doing it this is I find a very difficult sort of situation there right from the beginning when I first heard that firstly i express my solo or sadness then meantime if I say their action is wrong then their family they will they feel very sad what would our family member did something against Inter Lamas wish right I don't want to create that and then certainly I cannot support that because of the act of killing from Buddhist viewpoint it's a self killing not good so therefore my position is very very difficult so then best thing is remain silence to quite the tango Lama is Priene fully aware how powerful his words are and he occasionally uses them in targeted and sometimes surprisingly specific ways like this example which he offered up out of nowhere one will my previous visit Mongolia is it they took lot of vodka the Russians were hard ferocity they like a drink yeah vodka then I suggested drink much less vodka yeah I love to hear instead of that you say dead traditional drink horse milk wait hold on hold me what you tried to wean them off vodka by giving them horse milk oh yes then they follow what they really follow since then say I think majority of Mongolian no longer any drink hold on that is a that is a huge claim you cured Mongolia of alcoholism yes using horse milk yes yeah not too late but the point I'm just concerned I would see horse milk and I think oh that came from a horse oh that's illogical once differences cow milk and hospital one differences one comes out of a cow the other I don't know how you get it out of a horse I know you just how to keep the party going let's talk about a lighter subject death you are going to die and when you do it's going to be a massive problem because there are issues regarding your reincarnation regarding China I I do not much done son what that by being cousin is well-being of seven billion human being and then preservation of rich Buddhist tradition but which we kept but you're intertwined with that no no it's an individual person not much important you know right but there is a loyal um but Buddhism over two thousand since early years still very much alike so do you think you might be the last Dalai Lama very possible you do yes you might be if I become last dollar I feel very happy what because you were a good one oh yes I may say quite intelligent oh you calling yourself intelligent so a little bit of arrogance there as well if you don't resolve your reincarnation issue are you not worried that China will appoint their own Dalai Lama and he may not speak like you're speaking now that also it may I say so yeah there's also you see one of the foolish and short-sighted China without using human brain properly it's harmful that's that is a guaranteed way to calm the Chinese government down to tell them they're not using the human brain properly I told them our brain usually you see have the ability to create common sense the Chinese hardliners in their brain that one brain is missing Z Chinese leaders Chinese Communists they're very much concerned about the image of China I'm happy to sit here and criticize China with you because I know the consequences for me are not necessarily as bad as they are for you so so I wish you see they call me demon so I want another demon so you become demon no no no you can't transfer you can't reincarnate the demon into me you cannot do that you don't only do that SN de geneve Z oh no this is not how I wanted this interview today so the Dalai Lama seems determined to keep his reincarnation plans private for the time being leaving millions of Tibetans waiting for an answer and as our time drew to a close I wanted to cement our new friendship you were given a watch by President Roosevelt is that true yes true at that time I think one cursor better flip that's actually a beautiful one pocket pocket watch right well I have a special gift for you it is not a beautiful watch from a president but it is a special watch from me here it is it's a calculator watch oh right Roosevelt might have given you a fancy watch but that is water-resistant wonderful thank you Rosalie rosewood watch I did old fashioned yeah this new fashion well not so much new fashioned as from the 1980s okay thank you thank you think about thank you my demon friend [Laughter] [Applause]

Channel: LastWeekTonight

Views: 13,806,508

Keywords: last week tonight, dalai lama, john oliver dalai lama, last week tonight dalai lama, john oliver tibet, tibet, china tibet, john oliver china, last week tonight tibet

Id: bLY45o6rHm0

Length: 18min 52sec (1132 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 05 2017