—With HH the 14th Dalai Lama

“I’m a monk following the Nalanda Tradition, which is essentially about training the mind, but there’s no reason this can’t be pursued in a secular context. It’s about improving our day to day lives here and now. I’ve been meditating on compassion for the last 50 years and as a result my blood pressure is never too high, I sleep soundly, and my digestion is good. So, attaining peace of mind is also good for my health.”  —The 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, at age 85 in a Facebook Post (7-16-2020) 

While working as editor of Quest magazine, the organization that employed me sponsored a visit from Tenzin Gyatsho to its Chicago-area headquarters. He was filling invitations to visit and talk with individuals, groups, and scientific, business, and government leaders across the US.

Tenzin Gyatsho, a Tibetan monk, was then and is now a proponent of peace and understanding through compassion in the world. 

There was a security arrangement for him and his retinue by the US State Department and the Tibetan Government in Exile in Dharamsala, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) which is based in the northern hill country of Himachal Pradesh, India (since 25 April 1959). The two national governments required that we provide an around-the-clock staff member / guard outside Tenzin Gyatsho’s rooms at our headquarters. There would always be two guards present, the other being an attending monk, as Tenzin Gyatsho was (and is) the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet—as well as head of the CTA.

At a given time each day I was one of the guards. This job entailed a two-hour session sitting with a monk outside the Dalai Lama’s rooms, to ensure that he had privacy and security while resting and conducting affairs. The Tibetan monks were among the happiest people I met ever. I had already begun to explore the spiritual disciplines they undertook knowing these to be a significant part of their joy—and one of the finest traditions to be preserved and passed on to anyone in the world.

“Dalai Lama” is a designation given by the people of Tibet to the foremost spiritual leader of the school of Tibetan Buddhism most dominant in the culture. Since the time of the 5th Dalai Lama in the 17th century, this person has been a symbol of the unification of the people of the state of Tibet. The Dalai Lama represents the deepest cultural values and traditions beyond any specific school.

The 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet has worked all his life to overcome sectarian and other divisions amongst his people, and, indeed, cultures worldwide. Though his presentation at the Wheaton College auditorium (excerpts below) took place years ago, what he said then is even more relevant today. There were, amongst the 1200 or so audience, students as well as members from regional and local communities, especially the Chicago area.  —Scott Miners

Excerpts from HH the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet’s presentation at Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois

I should like to speak to you about the importance of kindness and compassion and their practical usefulness in our lives. When I address myself to this subject, I regard myself not as the Dalai Lama, not as a Tibetan, not even as a Buddhist, but rather as just one human being. And I hope that you who listen to my words will also think of yourselves as just human beings, rather than as American or Westerners or members of any other group, for all these things are secondary.

Our shared humanness is the main point. The fact that I am a Buddhist monk is a temporary condition, but life as a human being is basic to us all. This fact cannot change until our death. All else—whether we are educated or uneducated, rich or poor, Eastern or Western—is secondary.

The main problems that humankind is facing today are basically created by ourselves—created by the divisions we make based on the secondary factors of ideology, nationalism, economic systems, racial differences, and so on. These issues are hard to reconcile if we think of them as having primary importance. Therefore, I believe the time has come when we should think on a deeper level—the level of actual human being—and try to act from that level of appreciation and respect for all other human beings. 

We must build a closer relationship among ourselves, based on mutual trust, mutual understanding, mutual respect, mutual help, irrespective of culture, philosophy, religion, or faith. After all, human beings are all fundamentally the same. We are made of human flesh, human bones, and human blood. What is more, our internal feelings—desires, hopes and ambitions—are the same: We all want to avoid suffering and achieve happiness. And we all have an equal right to be happy. In other words, we belong to one big human family, which includes all the people on this planet.

This statement may sound very simple, but it is important to realize the truth that our quarrels with each other are all due to the reasons that are only of secondary significance in our lives. In the long run, no real good results if we argue with each other, cheat each other, suppress or exploit each other. Anything we achieve by those means may last only a short time—a few centuries at most, and then it will pass away. 

But human beings remain. Among them there are those who act bad as well as those who do good. Bad acting human beings think it is to their advantage to prevail over their fellow humans; to use any method that seems expedient, no matter how cruel, in order to achieve advantage. The advantage will not last; the methods used only create more problems, more suffering, more mistrust, more resentment, more division. The result is not good for anyone.

Interdependency

Today the world is becoming smaller and smaller, not only economically but from many other points of view. We are all much more closely interdependent. We cannot escape from one another. There is much more communication now among people, nations, and even many summit meetings of leaders of state; however, the global crises we recognize today occur because most everyone concentrates on the divisive problems of the secondary level, ignoring the primary truth that we are first of all human beings.

Therefore, I repeat, I wish to express my thoughts just as a human being, and I earnestly trust that you will listen with the same motivation and the same understanding. This way we may talk together on the human level. On this level, the basic problems of life are shared by all of us. 

Everyone wants happiness, and everybody has the right to be happy. Whether in big cities or small, in remote places or densely populated communities, all people work and struggle for the same fundamental purpose. But if we concentrate too much on the problems arising on the secondary level, we lose sight of our basic goal, and so the bigger problem remains unsolved. 

Through the advance of science and a highly developed technology, we have today achieved a high degree of material progress. All this is very useful and beneficial, yet more than ever people are filled with fear and anxiety. It is obvious that our internal progress toward peace and human brotherhood has not kept pace with our external progress toward material prosperity.

Weapons, Violence, and Reducing Anger with Compassion

All over the world there are crises: bombing of innocent people, killing, terrorism, kidnapping, and all sorts of violence. In addition, many people complain about the decline of morality, or principles, decency, honesty, and fair play in our society, and the increase of criminal acts. So, you see, although the progress that is being made in external development is needed and useful, all this will be wasted unless it is balanced by an equal degree of progress in our inner development.

A thousand years ago if there was war the amount of destruction was limited. Today the effects of war are beyond imagination. Although I had known something about the atomic explosion in Hiroshima, there was a big difference when I visited the place where the devastation took place and met the people who actually suffered through that dreadful moment. Such an experience cannot but move us deeply.

Oh, these terrible, terrible weapons! Even though we may regard some people as potential enemies, we cannot want them to suffer so dreadfully. We must acknowledge openly that—on a level deeper than national ideology—they are human beings like ourselves, and that they too both want and have the right to be happy.

After thinking about that moment in Hiroshima, I am more and more convinced that anger and hatred can never solve our problems. Fire cannot be extinguished by fire. In the same way, that internal fire which is anger can never be overcome by more anger. This only increases its disastrous power. If your opponent shows anger and you can control your feelings and offer him the opposite—compassion and tolerance—then not only will you yourself maintain your peace and tranquility, but you will minimize the anger of your opponent.

In the same way, world problems cannot be solved by anger and hatred, but by compassion and loving kindness. This is our only protection. Arsenals of weapons cannot stop the destruction, for the buttons that will set them off are activated by human fingers. These move in response to human fear, hatred, and anger. 

Many leaders of great nations talk about compromises and limited agreements, but these can so easily be disregarded. It is only when we can control ourselves that we will be able to control our weapons. Without the control of anger and hatred, no arms agreement—no matter how solemnly undertaken, no matter how widely supported—will last long. If someone comes along who has the will to destroy, he can do it.

If we look deeply into these matters, we see that the renunciation of violence must be born in the mind. Control of mind is something inborn. I am not talking here about the control of mind that is achieved in deep meditation. I am just talking about the kind of control that reduces anger, creates respect and concern for others, and allows a clearer realization that human beings are basically the same.…

So, through the media of world communication we must propagate this attitude of human concern. This is not religion, not a faith, but the simple recognition that, after all, what we want is happiness. And happiness is dependent upon peace. It is quite clear that when we are motivated by anger, peace is impossible. So, should we not try to see what we can achieve with kindness? 

Discernment and Common Sense

Nobody wants mental anguish or depression, and these come from anger, but because of ignorance about our power to dissipate these feelings, they arise in us involuntarily. With anger, we lose one of the best human qualities: The power of discernment. Discerning what is right and what is wrong is not only a benefit for today but for future good of all human beings. It will last. 

To achieve right discernment, moreover, we can use our normal common sense, for it will tell us whether this is the right method or the wrong method. Once our mind is influenced by anger, based on fear, we lose the power to discern properly what may be the results of our actions. Having lost this power, we are no longer complete human beings.

We have to safeguard the power of discernment, which is a precious human good, and for this the only security lies within ourselves—in our self-awareness, our ability to think deeply, our clear realization of the destructive effects of anger and hatred and of the positive effect of kindness and love.

Use of our power of discernment, of clear thinking and self-awareness, leads to self-control. Today you me be the type of person who is easily irritated over small things. If you become aware of this, realizing the consequences of your irritation, self-control will result. You may be angry for ten minutes today, but you can try to reduce it to eight minutes tomorrow, five minutes the next day, then two minutes, and after that—no irritation! Very good! That is the slow but sure way to train our minds.

Peace of Mind

It is quite clear that everybody needs peace of mind. But how do we achieve peace of mind? I would answer that it is through love, through kindness, and through compassion that we can achieve not only our own individual peace of mind, but peace within the family. If there is kindness and love in the family, there is no quarrel between husband and wife or between parents and children. 

On the national level, if our motivation is genuine, we will achieve unity, harmony, and cooperation. On the international level, mutual trust and mutual respect will make it possible to discuss world issues with friendliness, in the understanding that our joint efforts stem from the same motivation.

Such a change is possible, but first some sort of transformation within ourselves is necessary. Our national leaders may try their best in all sincerity to solve our problems, but just as soon as one problem is solved, another problem is created, and so the troubles mount until they are worldwide.

I do not deny that it will be difficult to achieve a movement such as the search for peace of mind on a global scale. Nevertheless, it must be attempted because it is the only alternative to self destruction. If any other means could be found that would be more practical and easier to achieve I would of course support it, but I believe there is no other means.…

All wrongs stem from our lack of human understanding, of mutual trust and mutual respect, based on kindness and love for all human beings. This is why I feel that there is only one way to achieve lasting world peace, and that it is worthwhile for us to make the effort, even if it may not be attained during our own lifetimes. Human life will go on, and surely in the next generation, or the next or the next, peace will come at last if we persist in our efforts.

Therefore, despite the practical difficulties, despite the fact that this view seems unrealistic to some people, I feel it is worthwhile for me to express these thoughts wherever I go. The people I meet, from many different walks of life, seem generally to agree with me about the causes of world problems, so I am encouraged. I believe that all human beings are basically the same, and that each of us has the same responsibility toward one another.

My conclusion is that the time has come when we should begin to think of other people as brothers and sisters whose welfare is important to us. This does not mean that we should be required to sacrifice all our own benefits for others, for that would be unrealistic, but rather that in our concern for our own welfare we do not forget the welfare of others. In the long run the two are the same.

Therefore, in thinking about the future, it is useful to think also what it may bring to all of us. If we try to subdue our anger and develop more kindness and compassion for others we will help them, but we ourselves will ultimately gain the greatest benefit.

The selfish person who is foolish thinks of nothing but himself, and therefore the results are negative, for he arouses resentment, anger, and mistrust in others. The selfish man who is wise, however, thinks of others also, realizing that if he helps them, he is helping himself, for he will meet with a good response and achieve good results.

This is what I feel about universal human relationships. There is no need for us to agree philosophically, no need to share a temple or a belief. If we are full of good will our own mind, our own heart is the temple. Kindness alone is enough. This is my religion.

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