The longtime Marxist doesn’t seem to realize markets are the best way to ‘take care of others.’
The Dalai Lama is wrapping up more than two weeks in the U.S. with a speech Friday at the National Cathedral in Washington. The spiritual leader of the Tibetan people has had a packed agenda, including leading the Senate in prayer, a meeting with President Obama at the White House, and a speech for a Los Angeles crowd that included newly minted Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o. But meeting with heads of state is nothing new for the Buddhist leader. Meeting with free-market capitalists is another story.
The Dalai Lama is a longtime Marxist—a fact the media tend to play down—yet on this trip he met with prominent capitalists on both coasts. At Santa Clara University, a Jesuit school in Silicon Valley, he spoke to business leaders, emphasizing the importance of “compassion” in the workplace, and telling them to focus less on a materialism and adopt a sense of “mission.” In Washington, he was hosted for two days by the conservative American Enterprise Institute and participated in panel discussions on happiness and free markets.
Amazingly, the Dalai Lama initiated the contact with AEI. He said he was drawn to the message of the organization’s president, Arthur Brooks, who says that maximizing human happiness—not just increasing material wealth—should be the goal of public policy. The Dalai Lama seemed to win over the AEI crowd with his humility and humor—and by telling them: “I develop more respect about capitalism.”
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