I’m not surprised Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu invited his good friend, the Dalai Lama to visit SA as a guest at his 80^th birthday celebrations – or that the South African government was too lily-livered to grant the Tibetan spiritual leader a visa so he could get into the country.

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All that nonsense about not being able to process the lama’s visa in time. How disingenuous, and cowardly ultimately. They should have the courage of their “convictions” to admit they are simply too scared of the Chinese and the financial repercussions that could flow from annoying them.

Clearly this government acts of the premise that the enemy of its friend is its enemy too.

So all credit to the “Arch” for his splenetic, though relatively restrained, outburst at the insult to his honoured guest and friend.  I could think of much harsher epithets than “disgrace” to describe the government’s pitiful response.

The Arch may be small in stature, but he is a big enemy of injustice. He is also looking more and more like his friend, the Dalai Lama, and vice versa. It proves that just as some people are said to grow to look like their beloved pet, the same can be said of very good friends – that they often grow to look like each other.

These two holy men share many qualities – playfulness,   beaming, blissful, smiling faces, characters that radiate humility, compassion and a genuine love of peace, and a gentleness and softness that are not to be confused with weakness.

It’s as if there has been a convergence of sainthood that shows up in their sparkling eyes, and happy laughs that bubble straight up from the solar plexus.

The Archbishop is looking like a happy black Buddha, and the Dalai Lama is looking like an Asian Tutu.

Perfect harmony.

And thanks to the marvels of modern technology, the Dalai Lama was able to bring his ancient wisdom to speak via videolink at his friend’s 80^th birthday celebrations at the weekend. He was present in spirit – the one thing governments can’t prevent from entering a country.

Tags: #Buddha, #Dalai Lama, #Tutu