Actor's faith draws him to help Tibetan spiritual leader

December 19, 1995
Web posted at: 1:00 a.m. EST (0600 GMT)

From Correspondent Michael Okwu

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- He's not considering making a movie about it, but actor Richard Gere has been preoccupied with a real life drama that has audiences in some parts of the world transfixed. Gere is mulling over some cliched concepts for a compelling epic involving a child, a country, and a cause.

Pachen Lama? "There's clearly a good guy and a bad guy here and the Chinese are really bad, really bad," he says. "And a six- year-old boy who is the rightful Pachen Lama is really good." (150K AIFF sound or 150K WAV sound)

Gere is talking about Tibetan Buddhism, and what he calls the Chinese government's oppression of the Tibetan people, their culture and their religion. If he were to make a movie of it, it might follow these directions:

Scene one: In 1989, the Pachen Lama -- after the Dalai Lama, Tibet's most powerful spiritual and political leader -- died. He was reincarnated, Tibetan leaders believe, in a six-year- old boy hand-picked by the Dalai Lama himself.

Scene two: Chinese government officials, upon hearing that the Dalai Lama, who has lived in exile in India since 1959, had been consulted about the matter before they had, essentially annulled the decision. The Chinese government selected a rival Pachen Lama -- another six-year-old.

Meanwhile the Dalai Lama's choice has disappeared, along with his family. The Chinese government says the boy is in his hometown.

Tibetans and human rights groups are up in arms. And Gere wants their voices heard.

"This is really important for people to understand," he says. "There's something unique on this planet that's potentially being destroyed here. Besides, the life of six-year-old boy in a very remote region of this world is being persecuted." (197K AIFF sound or 197K WAV sound)

Gere's drive is fueled by the magnetism of Tibet's spiritual leader.

"When I first met him I was a student of Buddhism," the actor says. "The sense of awe being in his presence, being in the real thing's presence was incredibly moving to me."

The faith Gere found there "intoxicates every element of your life," he says. "And if you're dealing with a philosophy which is based on love and altruism, it's a pretty good one to follow through on." (106K AIFF sound or 106K WAV sound)

Actor's faith draws him to help Tibetan spiritual leader

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