By Tenzin Chodon
Dharamsala, May 2 – His Holiness the Dalai Lama makes to the top in the category of ‘Leaders and Revolutionaries’ in the list of Times most influential people. In 2005, the Dalai Lama made the list in ‘Heroes & Icons’ category.
In the 2008 list He shares space with international leaders like US President George Bush as well as three presidential aspirants Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair , Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
In the write up on His Holiness, written for the magazine, Deepak Chopra, author of more than 50 books on spirituality and medicine said, “He and his people have struggled all their lives with the audacity of hopelessness. Oppression and exile are their daily bread. Yet the Dalai Lama, 72, remains calm in the face of cruelty.”
“China’s rulers aren’t like the British masters of colonial India, and the Dalai Lama’s Gandhiesque nonviolent struggle won’t give them twinges of conscience, leading to Tibet’s freedom. If anything, Beijing has grown more ruthless in suppressing Tibetan aspirations, as we’ve seen this Olympic year,” Chopra said adding that yet He has found a way to think kindly of those who oppress His people and vilify His name. I found him unwilling to show any harshness. He said to me, “I don’t dislike the Chinese, only their actions.”
“To whom, then, does the Dalai Lama turn for inspiration? It’s not a person but a place—beyond I and thou, beyond self and nonself. The wonder isn’t that such a place can be found. The wonder is that one man makes it look so easy.”
The Time 100 is an annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, as assembled by Time. Those recognized fall in one of five categories: Leaders & Revolutionaries, Builders & Titans, Artists & Entertainers, Scientists & Thinkers, and Heroes & Icons.
