July 7, 2012 will never be an ordinary day for Nicholas Vreeland, director of "The Tibet Center" in New York, for he will take up his post as abbot of the Rato Monastery in India, one of the key monasteries of the Gelug Sect of Tibetan Buddhism. That day coincides with the birthday of the 14th Dalai Lama.

Who is Nicholas Vreeland then? His grandmother was Diana Vreeland, the iconic fashion editor who embraced artifice and luxury in equal measure until her death. And his father is a diplomat; he himself helped finance the Rato Monastery’s expansion by selling his photographs.

What impresses the Dalai Lama must be Vreeland’s devotion to the Dalai Lama’s “religious journey”. He has helped organize the Dalai Lama’s previous visits to New York City for five times since 1991. And he has been working with the “Tibet Center and Healing the Divide” founded by Richard Gere.

To nominate such a person as head of the Rato Monastery, I bet the Dalai Lama values more his social tactic than his Buddhist attainment. In 1991, the Dalai Lama arrived in New York City with only a handful of assistants. Today he travels with a team of security officers thanks to Vreeland’s hard work.

Besides, this guy is too nice to the elderly. Mr. Vreeland went into ABC Carpet and Home recently to choose an armchair for the Dalai Lama to sit on the stage of the Radio City as the latter likes to sitting cross-legged. He said he went through the whole collection of sofas and chairs just for a right chair for the 14th Dalai Lama. What a considerate service!

Not only Vreeland is nice to the Dalai Lama, but also he is a flack who advocates his ideas through a book entitled “An Open Heart” edited by himself, a best-seller compiling some of the Dalai Lama’s lectures.

Who can reject such a bosom and useful follower?

In addition to Vreeland’s talent, diligence and diplomatic skills, his American citizenship would be another factor for the Dalai Lama’s choice.

To reciprocate, or to coordinate with if a bit modest, his western host, The 14th Dalai Lama has racked his brains by all means to please the latter, which is his usual practice.

It is no longer a secret that he and the CIA armed Tibetans to separate Tibet from China, which was also released by German Süddeutsche Zeitung and the German public TV Panorama in June, 2012. He had also kept friendship for seven years with Heinrich Harrer, who was sent to Tibet by Hitler in 1938 as a member of the Nazi Party, which was mentioned in the French book Not so Zen, the Hidden Side of the Dalai Lama.

Unfortunately, his collaboration with the West is not a balanced game.

He is only a tool used to hinder China’s development by some Western countries. That is in fact resulted from the growing power of China.

One the one hand, Western countries want to build a positive relationship with China, a promising export market and an increasingly credible partner in international affairs; it is only because they just fell victim to the incorrect assumption that giving audience to the Dalai Lama could prove their moral integrity.

On the other hand, the Chinese government will never allow the Dalai cluque to separate Tibet from China.

So the 14th Dalai Lama has fallen into an embarrassing situation.

For an ordinary elderly man, the celebration of the 77th birthday is to review abundant life experience and achievements and receive admiration. But the 14th Dalai Lama at such a senior age still has to try every possible way to please his Western masters though he led a grand life in his teens. For example, he has to arrange his own birthday present of appointing Vreeland. What a sad birthday!

What darkens the birthday most is that the Indian ambassador made his visit to Tibet for the first time in 10 years. The Dalai Lama has always dubbed himself as the "son of India"; now his "father" is to abandon him. What would he think when singing "Happy Birthday"?