The Lama Does Maui
Thousands came together to hear the Dalai Lama’s message of peace
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Del.icio.usan individual’s mental control of their own emotions, he cites a 4th century Buddhist master who wrote that the greatest sources of human conflict are “ideas and experiences.”
He puts it this way: “I am a Buddhist, but I am not attached to Buddhism, because it is biased,” as all religions and philosophies naturally are. He is “committed to religious harmony ... I had a real nice meeting with the last pope and the current one.”
Or as Shep Gordon, the Maui promoter who has known the Dalai Lama for 17 years and organized this visit, says, “I’m a Jew, and His Holiness says ‘Jew, good. Christian, good. Hindu, good. Muslim, good.‘All religions basically teach the same thing - be happy, be nice to people, be nice to yourself. His teachings reinforce my core beliefs as a Jew.”
Another question from the audience deals with religious superstitions. The Dalai Lama’s reply: “I am a scientist, I don’t think that way. Scientists are more open. After all these years, I am still trying to open my mind.”
Indeed, several studies have shown that his basic teaching of compassion leading to happiness (and conversely, selfishness leading to unhappiness) has scientific merit.
The second sun-splashed day attracts 11,000 people, and the Dalai Lama offers a discourse based on “Eight Verses for Training the Mind,” written 900 years ago by a Tibetan monk. While rather esoteric on one level - essentially dealing with the philosophical question “When you say ‘I’what does that really mean?” - there are more practical insights as well.
The reason for seeking the highest good for all sentient creatures, as the text says, is that “other beings allow us to accomplish good things in our lives.”
“Humility and compassion” begin with an attitude that whenever I associate with others, I will learn to think of myself as the lowest among them.
When the text refers to offering compassion to everyone, he interprets everyone as “all my mothers.”
And when bad things happen to you, when others do or say hurtful things, “Don’t give in to anger and resentment. It is possible to be outraged and to oppose, but still never lose compassion.”
As he said earlier, we may have differences of language, religion and culture, “but we are all human beings, born in the same way. We’ve all been blessed with this powerful thing called a brain. We all have that in common. When I meet someone, this is where I begin.”
He ends his Maui visit this way: “If after hearing this and thinking about it, you want to become a Buddhist, good. If you think you want to know more about Buddha’s teaching, good. Or if you just think that you would like to practice more compassion in your own life, good.”
Here’s a little Lama exercise: Think of 10 jobs you would never want to do, and imagine the lives of 10 people who do them ... or 20 jobs ... or 30 ... From gratitude springs compassion.
Afew final observations and tidbits:
* His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama has a great sense of humor. In fact, he cracks so many little jokes and laughs so much, including at his own jokes, you could call him a stand-up comic, except that he speaks while sitting cross-legged. And his laugh - starting with the deep resonant bass tone used in Tibetan chanting and rising to a high-pitched giggle - is infectious. Starting his second talk at the stadium, he greets the crowd with “Aloha!” and is so tickled with the sound of it, and the “Alooooha!” response from 11,000 people, that he chuckles heartily. The trades are whipping this day and a strong gust rattles the stage and a row of potted palms and ficus behind him. The Lama looks right, looks left, looks up, as if checking to see that all is still in place, then conks himself upside the head. “Ow!” And he laughs. So does everyone else.
* He calls himself a “simple monk,” and indeed he seems to be. He wears the crimson and gold robes of a monk, often with sandals. But on his second day at the stadium, before being seated he takes off a pair of black, western-style shoes, and before leaving puts them on again. While one young monk leaps to tie the right shoelace, the Lama bends to tie the other. It’s said that he’s partial to Rockports. You’ll never see him in the red patent leather pumps from Prada ceremonially worn by another world religious leader.
* The political situation inside Tibet remains brutal for Buddhists. It’s said the Chinese have killed more than 1 million Tibetans, and perhaps that many more have fled to India and Bhutan, although many have perished in the Himalayas, if not from the elements then at the hands of Chinese soldiers. When the Chinese army invaded in 1959, there were more than 6,000 monasteries and universities in Tibet; today there are just eight. While nuns and monks are no longer forced to have sex in the street, they are imprisoned even for speaking the Dalai Lama’s name. While ancient sacred texts are no longer ground up with manure and used as field fertilizer, even possessing a photo of the Dalai Lama will also land you in prison, and beaten, as happened to two monks not long ago.
* And the exodus of refugees continues. One of the booths set up at the stadium selling Tibetan meditation necklaces and bracelets, prayer wheels and shawls, and colorful door hangings, is for the Tibetan Nuns Project. It is run by the Dalai Lama’s sister-in-law, and its purpose is to fund the education and welfare of the scores of Tibetan nuns who on a regular basis flee over the Himalayas from Chinese persecution. I buy a couple of cotton shopping bags from them, sewn by nuns at the Dolma Ling nunnery in northern India. “Tibetan nuns care about the environment” is stamped on one side. You can do two good things - help the nuns and help Hawaii’s environment - by purchasing these bags online (www.tnp.org - the site should be able to handle requests soon, we’re told).
* Why doesn’t the U.S. exert more influence in changing Chinese policy in Tibet? When another country holds notes on billions of dollars of your country’s debt, and could easily cause you financial catastrophe, you tread carefully. Simple as that.
* The goateed Tashi Wangdi says he loves working for the Lama: “Because of his mental training and his outlook, he lives every moment to its fullest. I never see him downcast ... His Holiness’ birthday is July 6, and of course we Tibetans celebrate it. But for him every day is the same, a new day, a new birth day.”
And birth, of course, is where compassion begins.
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