Dalai Lama: A feudal ruler

So, today is the birthday of His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama, whose monk name is Tenzin Gyatso. While he has many supports like Richard Gere oder the Beasty Boys, I wonder what everybody finds so great about him.

1. He was and is a feudal ruler. Before the Chinese Army occupied Tibet in 1950 the country was ruled by a monk caste. They lived in monasteries and had a firm ruling of poor farmers. The whole Tibetan government system is build upon the authority of the Dalai Lama and a elite monk caste.
2. The material situation of the people of Tibet actually improved after the invasion of the Chinese since they were not exploited by the monks anymore.
3. Just a few words about the peacefulness of His Holiness: He said about Shoko Asaharas, the notorious planer of the poison gas attack on the Tokyo underground, that he is a friend "not necessarily a perfect one". Note, that was weeks after the attack in Tokyo.

A very good article on that topic is Michael Parenti's Friendly Feudalism: The Tibet Myth. A good book about the Dalai Lama is Colin Goldner's Book "Dalai Lama Fall eines Gottkönigs" (in German, The Downfall of a God-King), which is reviewed here