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Teachings,
Articles and Information Teachings
and Writing by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
A
Survey of the Paths of Tibetan Buddhism
The Buddhism we practise is an integrated form comprising
teachings of the low, Bodhisattva and Tantric vehicles, including
such paths as the Great Seal. Because quite a number of people
have already received initiations, teachings and so on, they
might find it helpful to have an explanation of the complete
framework. The
Global Community and The Need for Universal Responsibility
As
the twentieth century draws to a close, we find that the world
has grown smaller and the world's people have become almost
one community. "The
Monk in the Lab"
April 26, 2003, New York Times Editorial Nobel
Peace Prize 1989
- His Holiness' speech and biographical material from the
Nobel Prize ceremony. (The Nobel Foundation) Interviews
Ethics
for a Secular Millennium
An Interview With His Holiness, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama.
Reprinted from the 10th Anniversary (Fall 2001) Issue of Tricycle:
The Buddhist Review and archived on Beliefnet.com. "The
Dalai Lama on china, hatred, and optimism - A conversation
with Robert Thurman"
Mother Jones, November/December 1997. Inside
Out
The Dalai Lama interviewed by Spalding Gray. Reprinted from
the Fall 1991 issue of Tricycle: The Buddhist Review (premier
issue) and archived on Beliefnet.com. "When
the Ironbird Flies - an Interview with His Holiness the Fourteenth
Dalai Lama"
Interview by Mike Hellbach, translated by Glenn Mullin. From
the Lama
Yeshe Wisdom Archive. November 5th - 8th, 1982, New Delhi,
India. First published by Tushita Mahayana Meditation Centre,
New Delhi, 1982. The
Peaceful Mind
A conversation with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. By T George
Harris, From Spirituality & Health -- The Soul/Body Connection
and archived on Beliefnet.com. Other
Articles and Information
Webcasts
of His Holiness the Dalai Lama's public talks in Boston and
New York City.
Beliefnet,
Mind & Life Institute and the Initiatives Foundation joined
together to bring highlights from His Holiness the Dalai Lama's
public talks in Boston and New York City. Sharpton
Keeps Dalai Lama Waiting, Then Charms the Crowd
Review of the Ethical Revolution and the World Crisis conference
at Town Hall, New York City. (Michael Slackman, New
York Times, September 23, 2003) Dalai
Lama Return to Tibet May Be Simpler for China
By Reuters, as in the New
York Times, September 24, 2003 The
Dalai Lama Looks to a World Beyond War
Review of His Holiness' public talk in Central Park on Sunday,
September 21st. (Daniel J. Wakin, New
York Times, September 22, 2003) Dalai
Lama Lite
Op-Ed article by Patrick French says American enthusiasm for
Dalai Lama is not same as genuine political support for Tibet;
says Chinese government is unlikely to reach agreement with
Dalai Lama unless he abandons his main demands: democratic,
demilitarized, enlarged and genuinely autonomous state; says
China is too large a power to be pushed around, and United
States government will not place sympathy for Tibetans above
America's strategic and economic interests. (New York Times,
September 19, 2003. This is an archived article that must
be purchased.) Dalai
Lama Says Terror May Need a Violent Reply
A completely misinterpreted and sensationalized article on
His Holiness, who spoke of countermeasures, but never mentioned
violence. The abstract from the New York Times reads, "Dalai
Lama, winner of Nobel Peace Prize and one of world's most
prominent advocates of nonviolence, says it might be necessary
to fight terrorists with violence, and that it is 'too early
to say' whether war in Iraq was a mistake; he is on his first
visit to New York since 9/11; he refuses to pass judgment
on whether American antiterrorism campaign and war in Iraq
are only fueling additional terrorism, at a time when many
political and religious leaders are making that claim."
(Laurie Goodstein, New
York Times, September 18, 2003. This is an archived article
that must be purchased.) Dalai
Lama Says Terrorism Demands Response - Report
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, one of the world's
prominent advocates of nonviolence, said "countermeasures"
were necessary to combat terrorism, The New York Times reported
on Thursday. This is amore balanced article on His Holiness'
views on terrorism. (Reuters, September 18, 2003) President
Bush Welcomes the Dalai Lama to the White House for Second
Time, Reiterates Strong Support
Meeting with the Dalai Lama at the White House on September
10, President Bush expressed his "strong support"
for the Dalai lama's efforts to find a negotiated solution
with the Chinese leadership. (International Campaign for Tibet,
September 11, 2003) White
House Meeting For Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, met at
the White House with President Bush. The Dalai Lama said Mr.
Bush and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, with whom he
met on Tuesday, had shown ''genuine interest and sympathy''
regarding his efforts to win some degree of autonomy from
China for Tibet. Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman,
said Mr. Bush ''reiterated our strong commitment to support
the preservation of Tibet's unique religious, cultural and
linguistic identity, and the protection of the human rights''
of all Tibetans. (Richard W. Stevenson, New York Times, September
11, 2003) Bush
Meets Dalai Lama, Urges Dialogue with China
Over Chinese objections, President Bush met with the Dalai
Lama, exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, and urged
both sides to try to work out their differences through dialogue.
"The president reiterated the strong commitment of the
United States to the preservation of Tibet's unique religious,
cultural, and linguistic identity," White House spokesman
Scott McClellan said in a statement. "The president also
declared his strong support for the Dalai Lama's commitment
to the dialogue with China. The president said he would seek
ways to encourage China to continue the dialogue on a substantive
basis and expressed his hope that the Chinese government would
respond favorably," McClellan said. After the meeting,
the Dalai Lama said the president had shown "genuine
interest and genuine sympathy" in the issues he raised.
The Dalai Lama criticized Chinese policies as counter-productive
to stability and unity. It was the Dalai Lama's second meeting
with Bush to discuss Tibet. The Dalai Lama met with Secretary
of State Colin Powell on Tuesday. The Chinese Foreign Ministry
said in a statement last month that Beijing had asked the
United States not to let the Dalai Lama visit "to engage
in activities to split China." "We have already
made representations to the U.S. on this and urged the American
government to strictly abide by its recognition of Tibet as
a part of China," the ministry said. The United States
and the Dalai Lama, who has lived in exile since 1959, say
they do not favor Tibetan independence but only greater autonomy
for the Tibetan people. The United States also favors dialogue
between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama, but the
Bush administration has given the future of Tibet a lower
priority in talks with China than the previous Clinton administration
gave it. (Reuters,
September 10, 2003) Moscow
Bans Dalai Lama Visit, Cites China Treaty
Russia, fearful of harming warming relations with neighboring
China, Tuesday turned down a request for Tibet's exiled spiritual
leader, the Dalai Lama, to visit Buddhists in the country.
The decision coincided with a visit by Russian Prime Minister
Mikhail Kasyanov to China to discuss a new strategic partnership
between the former rivals for leadership of the communist
world. "When looking at the question of a visit by the
Dalai Lama, we had to take into account all Russia's interests,
and strictly follow Russia's international obligations, including
our treaty of friendship with China," the Russian foreign
ministry said. Dalai
Lama Return to Tibet May Be Simpler for China
Tibet's exiled god-king, the Dalai Lama, was lionized in the
United States but denied a visa to meet Buddhists in Russia.
Those different responses reflect China's dilemma on whether
to deal or not to deal with the charismatic leader. Beijing's
response to the Dalai Lama's U.S. visit and his meeting with
President Bush was muted compared with the rage that such
encounters have aroused from China in the past. (Jane Macartney,
Reuters, September 24, 2003) His
Holiness the Dalai Lama lays the Foundation Stone
at the new school being constructed for Pema Ts'al Mundgod.
Read about HH the Dalai Lama's visit to Pema Ts'al Mundgod.
Photos included. China
wants to choose next Dalai Lama
A senior Tibetan official says the Chinese government will
decide on a successor for the Dalai Lama. (CNN, August 9,
2001) CNN
Online has over 400 articles filed on His Holiness
the Dalai Lama.
New
York Times Editorial
April 26, 2003
The Monk in the Lab
By TENZIN GYATSO DHARAMSALA,
India
These are times when destructive emotions like anger, fear
and hatred are giving rise to devastating problems throughout
the world. While the daily news offers grim reminders of the
destructive power of such emotions, the question we must ask
is this: What can we do, person by person, to overcome them? Of
course such disturbing emotions have always been part of the
human condition. Some — those who tend to believe nothing
will "cure" our impulses to hate or oppress one
another — might say that this is simply the price of
being human. But this view can create apathy in the face of
destructive emotions, leading us to conclude that destructiveness
is beyond our control. I
believe that there are practical ways for us as individuals
to curb our dangerous impulses — impulses that collectively
can lead to war and mass violence. As evidence I have not
only my spiritual practice and the understanding of human
existence based on Buddhist teachings, but now also the work
of scientists. For
the last 15 years I have engaged in a series of conversations
with Western scientists. We have exchanged views on topics
ranging from quantum physics and cosmology to compassion and
destructive emotions. I have found that while scientific findings
offer a deeper understanding of such fields as cosmology,
it seems that Buddhist explanations — particularly in
the cognitive, biological and brain sciences — can sometimes
give Western-trained scientists a new way to look at their
own fields. It
may seem odd that a religious leader is so involved with science,
but Buddhist teachings stress the importance of understanding
reality, and so we should pay attention to what scientists
have learned about our world through experimentation and measurement. Similarly,
Buddhists have a 2,500-year history of investigating the workings
of the mind. Over the millenniums, many practitioners have
carried out what we might call "experiments" in
how to overcome our tendencies toward destructive emotions. I
have been encouraging scientists to examine advanced Tibetan
spiritual practitioners, to see what benefits these practices
might have for others, outside the religious context. The
goal here is to increase our understanding of the world of
the mind, of consciousness, and of our emotions. It
is for this reason that I visited the neuroscience laboratory
of Dr. Richard Davidson at the University of Wisconsin. Using
imaging devices that show what occurs in the brain during
meditation, Dr. Davidson has been able to study the effects
of Buddhist practices for cultivating compassion, equanimity
or mindfulness. For centuries Buddhists have believed that
pursuing such practices seems to make people calmer, happier
and more loving. At the same time they are less and less prone
to destructive emotions. According
to Dr. Davidson, there is now science to underscore this belief.
Dr. Davidson tells me that the emergence of positive emotions
may be due to this: Mindfulness meditation strengthens the
neurological circuits that calm a part of the brain that acts
as a trigger for fear and anger. This raises the possibility
that we have a way to create a kind of buffer between the
brain's violent impulses and our actions. Experiments
have already been carried out that show some practitioners
can achieve a state of inner peace, even when facing extremely
disturbing circumstances. Dr. Paul Ekman of the University
of California at San Francisco told me that jarring noises
(one as loud as a gunshot) failed to startle the Buddhist
monk he was testing. Dr. Ekman said he had never seen anyone
stay so calm in the presence of such a disturbance. Another
monk, the abbot of one of our monasteries in India, was tested
by Dr. Davidson using electroencephalographs to measure brain
waves. According to Dr. Davidson, the abbot had the highest
amount of activity in the brain centers associated with positive
emotions that had ever been measured by his laboratory. Of
course, the benefits of these practices are not just for monks
who spend months at a time in meditation retreat. Dr. Davidson
told me about his research with people working in highly stressful
jobs. These people — non-Buddhists — were taught
mindfulness, a state of alertness in which the mind does not
get caught up in thoughts or sensations, but lets them come
and go, much like watching a river flow by. After eight weeks,
Dr. Davidson found that in these people, the parts of their
brains that help to form positive emotions became increasingly
active. The
implications of all this are clear: the world today needs
citizens and leaders who can work toward ensuring stability
and engage in dialogue with the "enemy" — no
matter what kind of aggression or assault they may have endured.
It's
worth noting that these methods are not just useful, but inexpensive.
You don't need a drug or an injection. You don't have to become
a Buddhist, or adopt any particular religious faith. Everybody
has the potential to lead a peaceful, meaningful life. We
must explore as far as we can how that can be brought about.
I
try to put these methods into effect in my own life. When
I hear bad news, especially the tragic stories I often hear
from my fellow Tibetans, naturally my own response is sadness.
However, by placing it in context, I find I can cope reasonably
well. And feelings of helpless anger, which simply poison
the mind and embitter the heart, seldom arise, even following
the worst news. But
reflection shows that in our lives much of our suffering is
caused not by external causes but by such internal events
as the arising of disturbing emotions. The best antidote to
this disruption is enhancing our ability to handle these emotions.
If
humanity is to survive, happiness and inner balance are crucial.
Otherwise the lives of our children and their children are
more likely to be unhappy, desperate and short. Material development
certainly contributes to happiness — to some extent —
and a comfortable way of life. But this is not sufficient.
To achieve a deeper level of happiness we cannot neglect our
inner development. The
calamity of 9/11 demonstrated that modern technology and human
intelligence guided by hatred can lead to immense destruction.
Such terrible acts are a violent symptom of an afflicted mental
state. To respond wisely and effectively, we need to be guided
by more healthy states of mind, not just to avoid feeding
the flames of hatred, but to respond skillfully. We would
do well to remember that the war against hatred and terror
can be waged on this, the internal front, too. Tenzin
Gyatso is the 14th Dalai Lama. |
