Missed chance

I was saddened by Deborah Netburn’s shallow article on the Drepong monks and the women who hosted them (“Nirvana in the Palisades,� March 14). Ms. Netburn missed a marvelous opportunity to edify the world about these peaceful, gentle souls whose very survival hinges on support from a world outside their own. She opted instead to trivialize the monks by characterizing them as carnivorous simpletons seeking our toys.

Nonie Newton-Breen

Calabasas Hills

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I found Deborah Netburn’s piece disrespectful and lacking in curiosity about what she observed. It seemed like a smarmy “fish-out-of-water� story crossed with a “Look, those aliens are just like us!�

What a missed opportunity! I wanted to read more about the “cute,� surprising behavior the writer observed. For example: We stereotype Buddhists as vegetarians, but these monks eat meat twice a day. Why? We think of pop culture, gun play and junk food as uninteresting, if not forbidden, to those who take monastic vows. Why are these monks so easy and un-self-conscious about enjoying these? They are in exile from their homeland. Why are they so happy?

Jeffrey Hutter

Santa Monica

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One of the principals of Buddhism includes eschewing material desires. Only in the Palisades and Malibu do you have people supporting the “Tibetan cause� by competing to host Tibetan monks. With a generous donation, one can invite their friends to a private fire puja on their sprawling beachfront property. Thank you for teaching our Tibetan friends about the American “nirvana� -- wealth, status and privilege.

Patrick Freeling

Redondo Beach