Dalai Lama Quote on Facebook About Man Sacrifice and Health is a HOAX!

dalai lama

Here is the latest Internet hoax and  the photo that comes with it.  Facebook morons are pumping these out faster than the Franklin Mint pushes out worthless 9-11 memorabilia.

The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, answered, ‘Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.’ <—– FAKE!

This quote, printed over a photograph of the Dalai Lama, is floating around on Facebook.  It is inspiring millions of simple-minded Facebookers — but there’s a problem.  HE NEVER SAID IT!   There is no record of the Dalai Lama ever saying this and on his website there is no mention of it.  Devout followers of the Dalai Lama say it is not true, but we live in the day where all one needs to do is put something up on Facebook and it becomes the law of the land — at least where idiots are concerned.
 
Why do people on Facebook fall for this baloney?  Last week it was the fake quote attributed to Betty White about testicles and vaginas and this week it’s about the Dalai Lama and his opinions about mankind and money.  All you need is to be vaguely familiar with the teachings of the Dalai Lama to know that this is not true,  He does not moralize like this.  I hate to tell all you people who have been magically hoisted onto a heavenly plane by this quote that it is 100% not true.  He never said it.
 
“We were surprised to see this quote in a handout we received as part of our fundraising for our cause,” said Laksmi Shamar, a devout Buddhist and a foot soldier in the battle against the Chinese oppression of Tibet.
 
When asked about the specific photo and the quote Shamar said that she had never heard of this quote.
 
“Moralizing is not the tone and has never been the intent of the Dalai Lama, but we live in the age of the internet and invention.  In the past I have heard many people evoke the name of the Dalai Lama to bolster their own ideas, so this is not the first and I am sure that it will not be the last.”
 
Shamar is not a household name, but bigger names have not come forward to authenticate the quote simply because it’s not true and, according to inside sources, for them to mention it would serve only to add more steam to the engine of inauthenticty that drives quotes like this one.
 
The Tibetan Council of Northern California has not placed any credence on the quote and not a word of it has been leaked by the President of the council, Eva Herzer or chief advisor Phurpa Laden La. 
 
Also, no authenticty was cited by Julia Shepardson who is on the council and has worked in a Tibetan refugee settlement in Nepal. She was regional Director of the Tibetan US Resettlement Project in the San Francisco Bay Area and a founding board member of the Committee of 100 for Tibet.
 
Tenzin Tethong, another prominent name — perhaps the most prominent — has not offered any credence to the validity of the quote.   Tenzin Tethong is Chair of the Committee of 100 for Tibet, and President of the Dalai Lama Foundation. He is Distinguished Fellow, Tibetan Studies Initiative, and a member of the Center for Compassion & Altruism Research and Education, Stanford University. He is a former Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in New York and Washington, D.C., and former Chairman of the Kashag, the Cabinet of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
 
The list of names goes on and on and on.  Sadly it does not go on as long as the list of millions of mindless Facebookers who pass this stuff along with nary a care.   Last week TheDamienZone.com had to remind millions of Americans that actress Betty White, her baudy sense of humor notwithstanding, never said something that was attributed to her on millions of Facebook accounts.
 
“Sometimes a person will hear something that sounds in their mind like a certain person should have said it and they get some measure of comfort from believing it to be true. Perhaps they themselves invent a somewhat inspirational quote and know that it will have no legs or longevity unless they attribute that quote to someone more famous than themselves.   Many of the New Testament gospels may have been written this way.”  [Dean Traherne, MD,  UCMC  Behavioral Health LLC.]
 
There should be a lot of laws implemented regarding  internet hoaxes like this.  Not simply because they are hoaxes, but because when something becomes this popular in the trenches of the day to day life of mouse clickers who don’t know any better, they can become a vehicle by which computer viruses are spread.    The internet generation in the USA has become wise about clicking on links that seem suspicious or phony, but show them an inspirational quote by the Dalai Lama or a dirty joke from Betty White and they click away.
 
Look here and try to find any reference to the quote:     http://www.dalailama.com/messages#Articles   Then write to any of the people listed here and ask them about what I just told you — get back to me and say you’re sorry for spreading false information and misquoting a man who already has enough aggravation.  http://www.tanc.org/about/advisory-council/