As we all know, Dalai Lama is a Tibetan Buddhist leader. He has helped strengthen the Buddhist community, while developing social capital through bonding and bridging initiatives. the Dalai Lama fostered the Buddhist values of charity, non violence and a 'middle-way'. I believe this helped the Dalai Lama further his initiatives and receive a positive response from the hegemonic society. Recently, Dalai Lama was seen with Barack Obama negotiating ways to harbour positive relations between the Tibets and the Republic of China.Through this, the Dalai Lama is once again seen trying to strengthen his bridging social capital. This event also indicates how strong the social capital and representation has become for the Tibetan Buddhist community; they can expand their ties and reach out to various countries for support within another nation. I found it interesting that, how some of my religion course readings would point out the importance of expressing charity, peace, and other social values as such help gain positive response from mainstream society, the buddhist community is seen doing just that.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/21/dalai-lama-obama_n_4832961.html?utm_hp_ref=buddhism
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/21/dalai-lama-obama_n_4832961.html?utm_hp_ref=buddhism