I so appreciate the stance of agreeing to disagree and also listening to varied points of view. I think that alone is a step in the direction we all benefit from. Just to be clear, I don't think of it as a natural behavior for a holy man necessarily but for an old Tibetan man, who struggle for the english to say the phrase Che Le Sa or something like that "Eat my tongue" a joke in the language that is said to children who ask for more and more. When I listened to the links of numerous Tibetan people, a few that I have linked in this article, that really softened my initial shock. I am not interested in excusing holy men in general. But I do come from the perspective of listening to those from source cultures when I think there may be a lot missing from my understanding of a moment. I think the whole incident was regrettable for the stir it caused and I truly hope and pray this does not harm so many people who have been fighting for their freedom for 3 generations further. That is more my perspective. thank you for reading. thank you for commenting. And especially for being willing to agree to disagree... this world has become very harsh in all of our held opinions.