Chuckles

Stone was speaking to a Hong Kong television channel when she called the Dalai Lama a "good friend" — okay, no big deal. Then she launched into this part:

"I'm not happy about the way the Chinese are treating the Tibetans because I don't think anyone should be unkind to anyone else. And then this earthquake and all this stuff happened, and then I thought, is that karma? When you're not nice, the bad things happen to you?"

Cue YouTube infamy, Chinese outrage, formal apologies from Dior China and Stone, and a serious drop in Stone's income. And as if it weren't bad enough that she suggested the deaths of tens of thousands of people were karmic retribution for China's policies regarding Tibet, we're not so sure Stone, who claims to be a practicing Buddhist, even understands what the hell she's talking about when it comes to karma. So we called in an expert: Matthew Reichers, an instructor at the Chakrasambara Buddhist Center. He concurs that Stone shouldn't necessarily be spouting off about karmic justice: "Karma is a deeply hidden phenomena," he says. "In order to understand the specifics you have to be a fully enlightened being — so not even a renowned person like Sharon Stone would understand." Heh.

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