Televised visions of Tibetans beating Chinese, overturning cars, devastating property with fire bombs excites viewers: to sympathy for those caught and those who volunteered for this catastrophic revolutionary attempt, and to cynicism about the nature of Tibetan Buddhism.

What the monks and other Tibetans missed in their fever for world statement about their situation is the power of the image: images of Tibetans inciting violence stands in our minds in vivid contrast to the teachings of the Buddha: middle way, non-violence, overcoming negative emotions with mind-strengthening meditations.

The political and physical oppression of Tibetans through Chinese occupation is more than unfortunate: it stands in line with Nazi Germany as a blight on human history.

Yet meditation teachers promote staying in this moment, this here and now, as the anti-dote to the multiple tricks the mind can play that increase our suffering.

It seems the Tibetans, both monks and lay people alike, abandoned their own teachings in favour of impotent rage, the emotion behind all violence.

To say this is the real tragedy belies the physical and emotional human suffering for Tibetans, Chinese, Indians, Nepalese, all who are involved.

To omit the tragedy of the loss of the teachings and the loss of hope signalled to millions of followers of Buddhism around the world is to minimize the long term effect of this misguided revolution.

Sympathy for the Tibetan people from the world community was garnered slowly over decades by His Holiness the Dalai Lama through his repeated message of peace, co-operation, non-violence. We do not hear him coming out against the Tibetans who perpetrated the violence. The major air time on the networks cover no moment in which he condemns the violence. For this, one must be able to read (remember that 40% of Canadians are functionally illiterate.)

We are all left at this dark time with less than before, less hope, less faith, and the dimming of a light which stood for peaceful resolution to problems.
We are all left with the old adage, Might makes Right. The knife in the heart however is not from the Chinese, but from the Tibetans, who, in acting from violence, denigrate belief in their own culture, their own religious beliefs and therefore, their cause.
Truly a snake biting its tail.