| Thousands of people from all over the United States converged in Madison for three days, May 2-4, to listen to the teachings and public talk of His Holiness, The 14th Dalai Lama, the spiritual and temporal leader of Tibetans. Tenzin Gyatso, the Dalai Lama, is believed to be the reincarnation of Avalokiteshvara, the Buddha of Compassion, according to Tibetan tradition. As the world knows, during the 1959 popular uprising in Lhasa against China's invasion, the Dalai Lama escaped to India where he established a government-in-exile. To this day, more than 120,000 Tibetans have left their ancestral land to follow him. The Dalai Lama has established autonomous agricultural settlements and Tibetan schools in India which offer Tibetan language, history, religion, and culture. His reputation as a man of peace and outstanding intellect has reached outside the confines of India. He has received awards and recognition consisting of honorary doctorates and fellowships. He also received a Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, in recognition of his nonviolent struggle to liberate the people of Tibet, and his constant message for world peace. His Holiness came upon the invitation of Ven. Geshe Lhundub Sopa, founder and spiritual leader of Deer Park Buddhist Center in Oregon, Wis. It was no wonder to see hundreds of Tibetan Americans of all ages not only from Wisconsin but from other states such as Minnesota around to help local Tibetans organize events around the Dalai Lama's visit as well as prepare cultural performances. For two days, His Holiness conducted experiential teachings of Lama Tsongkhapa at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, highlighted with Tibetan prayers. On Friday, the last day, he gave a public talk at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Kohl Center, titled "Compassion: The Source of Happiness." UW-Madison Chancellor John Riley welcomed His Holiness with a generous introduction, enumerating The Dalai Lama's achievements and insights into his earlier four visits to UW, including a meeting with top neuroscientists engaged in the research on the effects of meditation on brain functions, emotions and physical health. His Holiness, The Dalai Lama's public talk, "Compassion: A source of Happiness" (Edited for conciseness and clarity) On happiness There is no disagreement. We all want a happy life. We all do not want suffering. It is our basic right. By nature, we feel pleasure, joy, pain, suffering, uncomfortable. We want those positive things. Even plants have the capacity and the right to exist. I think every form of life has the capacity and the right to exist. In our case, it's not only to merely exist, but to exist with a happy and meaningful life. That's our basic right. So, since as human beings we have this marvelous human brain, "happiness and satisfaction" are different from how those are perceived by animals. I think, we human beings have different levels of joyfulness and happiness, as well as pains and sufferings. Other species of mammals, however, experience feelings mainly on sensory level, such as pleasure or unpleasant experience or feeling. Ours is mainly on the mental level, which is basically more complex because of our intellect. This intelligence, this marvelous brain, creates the capacity to remember about long time past. Particularly, with the help of written scripts, our memory of the past becomes clearer. We also have this unique capacity to visualize and imagine the future for our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren in the next century. It is good that you have very long memory and good power of imagination and vision, but there are also those things that cause disturbances in your mind. For example, our present generation is happy; they have no problem, but thinking of previous generations many centuries ago, what happened? One example, there was one occasion in Frankfurt, Germany, a meeting of many people from different ethnicities, including Native Americans. (I have close relationships with Native Americans and I also respect their traditional concepts of taking care of the Earth, and the importance of respecting nature.) One representative of the Native American group gave a very long speech that seemed to bore everyone. I was bored, too. The message in that long, boring speech was about the past, how European White people came to America and killed many Native Americans. In essence, today, in this century, in this civilized world, should all White people be expelled in America? That kind of thinking and vision came from long, past memory. So I think that when he reflected on that century-old event which caused the disturbance in his mind, he was unhappy. And because of the ability to imagine, people worry too much about tomorrow or next week, or next year, or next decade, or next century. Because of those, your calmness is completely destroyed. There is no way to cure that when you rely purely on external means. It is very difficult. Taking drugs and alcohol is a temporary relief, and with drugs, your mind becomes more confused. In our daily life, there is already too much confusion, so more confusion is not necessary. If you do surgery to remove part of the brain, we become robots with no feelings. That is also not good. Just like animals, you just feed, sleep, and reproduce. It will give you a very simple life, which is also not good. So I prefer a more colorful life. It is better. Meantime, through a certain way of thinking, a certain mental attitude, utilizing our intelligence in such a way to reduce the mental disturbances, we can have calmness and satisfaction despite difficult surroundings. That's wise. The big question mark is whether or not this is possible. According to research, mental level disturbances may be reduced through training of the mind. Religious faith For at least 3,000 years, when you look at the history of human evolution, every society has had the presence of religion. The reason for that is, as human beings, when we encounter in our life certain situations which are beyond the capacity of our physical point of view, when you reach certain situation where the solution to the problem is beyond that capacity, then we seek some form of comfort and trust in some higher power. So any religion has the potential to help in that level. The source to combat mental disturbances is actually our inner values, such as compassion. With compassion is the spirit of forgiveness. All religious traditions have the same messages -- love, compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, discipline, and contentment. Today, people are divided into sections: some still feel the value of religion and religious faith; some have no particular interest in religion. Because of the importance of love and compassion, we must accept the importance of religion. Sometimes, there is a tendency to look at this question of the role of religion in extreme terms. For example, because 'we recognize the value of compassion, forgiveness, love, tolerance, and so forth, therefore, we must embrace religion as a foundation for that.' That is one extreme. Now the other extreme is: because 'I have no interest in religion myself, I should not pay serious attention to the value of love, tolerance, compassion, self discipline and so forth.' People seem to think these are the two options. Some religious believers think that moral ethics must be based on some form of religious faith. I think that is too narrow. I feel, and I think also -- and some people share that same view -- that there are those who are totally without religious beliefs but they promote human values such as compassion and forgiveness. Actually, this is secular ethics. Secularism -- some interpret -- means rejection of religion. India's constitution, for example is based on secularism. Secularism doesn't mean rejection of religion, but respect of all religions and respect of non-believers. Therefore, secularism doesn't necessarily mean rejection of religion, but "without religious involvement." So secular ethics -- even without talking about religious faith, but simply through education -- tries to promote the importance of love and compassion. Mental attitude As I mentioned before, we want a happy life. We want a successful life. Success and happiness must depend on our mental attitude. Although materially we may be successful, with lots of money, lots of fame, lots of facilities, lots of friends -- these are not genuine. These are friends of money and friends of power. The longer someone remains in power, the more friends he has. If he's no longer in power, he'll have less friends. One with fortune will have lots of smiling "friendly" faces; when the fortune is gone, try to make a phone call, and there will be no answer. At the same time, such person is a very unhappy person. Internal way of thinking is very, very crucial. What emotions bring us inner peace? What emotions disturb our peace of mind? A happy mind is very difficult to achieve when emotions of anger, hatred and jealousy are present. Usually, frustration and anger come from fear. To reduce fear, one needs positive will and confidence. Genuine will is based on honesty and self-confidence. Compassion Compassion brings us inner strength. Inner strength reduces fear or sense of insecurity. Fear, anxiety, stress, and frustration are very bad for our physical body. They disturb our body element. A scientist told us that anger eats our inner system while some emotions -- such as compassion -- strengthen our immune system. Some emotions are very destructive, some are positive. So, we choose, and without human intelligence, we cannot do that. Can we develop these positive emotions such as compassion, or affection, or a sense of concern? Like any other emotion, however, compassion is not independent. Emotions interlink. Compassion or sense of concern also operates in different levels of intensity or strength. Sometimes, there is a sense of concern but if you feel more superior over another with difficulties and you feel pity, that is not genuine compassion. There is an element of closeness in compassion, and that feeling entirely depends on one's attitude and being. Genuine compassion is based on recognition of others as human beings, not on others' behavior. Actually, we develop unbiased compassion from birth. Our body needs human affection, and fortunately, we human beings start our lives with our mother and we are nurtured by her milk. We remain as infants for a very long time, when we are very vulnerable. The mother's care is indispensable. Without mother's care, or without the care of someone like our mother, within a few days we will die; and without mother's milk, our physical human being and development of the brain suffer. The physical touch of the mother also plays a part. That's nature. (His Holiness then talked of how animals and insects are left to fend for themselves after their eggs are hatched.) In such case, I don't think nature creates affection. Human nature, however, has that element of affection and the young is dependent on mother's care. The child is happy, enjoys his sleep; when he is separated from his mother, he is unhappy. My mother is very very compassionate, not only with her own children but also with other children. She would always cry whenever she sees bad things happening. She's very, very kind. But my father is not like that. I also got some beatings from him. Anyway, those who were under a mother's full care can have a lifelong warm-heartedness. Those who were cared for by mothers have a potential for compassion. Anyone who came from a flower? Or from the sky? (laughter) That's the very beginning of compassion -- affection and happy life. So it's really worthwhile to keep that experience in our life. If our mental state is more calm and happier, then our daily mood becomes more positive, even with disturbances or bad news. It's like having a strong immune system. Also like the ocean, waves may sometimes be strong, but without much serious traces underneath. Good mood is very important. The mind should be more calm, so that anger and hatred may be easier to ward off. Compassion, love and other positive emotions are very positive for your physical well being, but much depend on our own views. Most important, by birth, biologically we have the seat of compassion or warm heartedness, the source of a happy life. Make use of it to ultimately find happiness. What do you think? Did I make any sense? |
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| Heidi M. Pascual* Publisher & Editor Asian Wisconzine * 2006 Journalist of the Year for the State of Wisconsin (U.S.-SBA) |
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| His Holiness, The Dalai Lama, in Madison Brings his message of compassion Part 1 of 2 |
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