Opinion
A Bold Way to Close the Olympics
–Paul Ekman
The Dalai Lama recently announced his acceptance of a socialist
government in Tibet run by the Chinese Communist Party, and his
intention to play no political role once a settlement is reached; major
concessions according to Nicholas D. Kristof of the New York Times
(Aug. 6, 2008). I’m not an international relations specialist, so I
can’t evaluate Kristof’s elaborate proposal for reaching agreement, but
I am an expert about what it is like to meet face-to-face with the
Dalai Lama, and why that is important now to break the decade-long
deadlock in negotiations between representatives of the Dalai Lama and
Chinese leadership.
I am not a Buddhist nor a meditator. I”m a research
psychologist who has spent 45 years examining how our emotions work, in
particular how they are signaled in facial expressions. When I first
met the Dalai Lama eight years ago he was hosting a weeklong meeting
with a small group of scientists about “Destructive Emotions”. His view
of emotions was quite different from mine, arising from an intellectual
tradition out of contact with Western thinking and research. I
subsequently proposed that we meet one-on-one hoping that the contrast
— Western/Buddhist, scientific/spiritual — might lead us to break
through, with new ideas emerging about how we can improve our emotional
life and enlarge the scope of our compassion. It did; but neither of us
expected at the outset we would spend 40 hours in our intense exchange.
I have never before spent 40 hours talking about a single set
of ideas with anyone. Quite apart from the content of what we discussed
I came to know intimately what it is like to talk to this man, and as
an expert observer of the minutiae of facial expressions, his emotional
disposition.
Where to start? He has amazing concentration, which he
maintains for hours seemingly without a moments distraction – it was
contagious, so my mind never drifted, not even for a second, which is
quite unusual for me. He has keen analytic capabilities, trained as an
expert debater who sees all sides of every issue, who finds the
exception to every rule, and without hesitation abandons long held
views when shown new information or compelling argument. He rejoices in
new approaches, new ideas. He is the epitome of flexibility. Another of
his characteristics is hard to conceive of from either a Western or
Eastern viewpoint: the Dalai Lama lacks any concern for status, for how
you acknowledge him. He truly thinks of himself as a Buddhist monk,
with just “a bit of knowledge”. And his sense of humor is legendary,
never at anyone’s cost, and very contagious.
In addition to studying emotion I have also developed expertise
about when and why lies occur, succeed or fail. The Dalai Lama is
without guile; he is not only trustworthy, but also trusting almost to
a fault, in the sense that a ruthless person could exploit him.
Usually leaders to do not meet until subordinates have worked
out all the details; but the subordinates have failed to reach an
agreement about the future of Tibet. It is time for the leaders. The
Dalai Lama is the ideal person with whom to negotiate in good faith to
find new solutions: amazing powers of concentration, flexible not
dogmatic, modest, trustworthy and trusting. Last Spring Prime Minister
Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and German Chancellor
Angela Merkel called for such a meeting.
What better way for China to lead, following its triumph — no matter
who wins how many medals — from this great Olympic event it has
hosted.
–Dr. Paul Ekman is professor (emeritus) at the University of
California, San Francisco. His new book, “Emotional Awareness:
Overcoming Obstacles to Psychological Balance and Compassion, the Dalai
Lama in conversation with Paul Ekman” will be published in September by
Times Books.
( Reproduced from the online edition
of The Washington Post, published 20 August 2008. The views expressed
in this column are personal. The Central Tibetan Administration does
not necessarily subscribe to the opinions expressed here. )
