Between enraged and engaged Buddhism: How to avoid Angry Monk Syndrome
It would seem that an event with the United Nations logo plastered all over it should inherently try to be representative. As such, it seemed logical to assume that all of the various strands of Buddhism would be represented at the recent UN-sponsored conference for the Buddhist holiday of Vesak. This, however, proved far from the case. Indeed, top priority seemed instead to have been given to avoiding what can be referred to as 'Angry Monk Syndrome'.
Immediately upon arriving at the United Nations Day of Vesak Conference, held on 14-17 May in Hanoi, it became apparent that there were very few Burmese or Tibetan monks in attendance. After tracking down one of the few Tibetan monks in the vicinity, I asked him whether this was so. He nonchalantly said, "Yeah, it's very political. I'm here as a teacher, not as a lama." He said that he teaches occasionally in the US, and that he is a personal student of the most famous Buddhist to not be invited to the conference, the Dalai Lama. Accounts differ here, of course: members of the International Organizing Committee, which put together the conference, claimed that an invitation had indeed been sent to the Dalai Lama's office, but his representatives say that no invitation was ever received.