The Dalai Lama: Heart of Compassion

 

10.16.2020 THE DALAI LAMA: HEART OF COMPASSION You might have seen the big news earlier this week, when we announced the launch of the Dalai Lama Global Vision Summit, made by Lion’s Roar in partnership with Tibet House US, and all with the blessings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama himself. It’s a celebration of the Dalai Lama and what he stands for, featuring 22 fascinating thinkers.  So who is the Dalai Lama? His Holiness is the fourteenth person to be recognized by that title, and is believed to be a manifestation of Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion. The self-proclaimed “simple monk” has dedicated his life to that spirit of compassion, and in turn has made a worldwide impact with his service as a statesman, spiritual teacher, and theologian. In this Weekend Reader we celebrate His Holiness and look at his life as inspiration for our own. Below, His Holiness describes how Buddhist teachings help us live a life of compassion, Buddhist teacher Roshi Joan Halifax shares a personal account of her time spent with him, and Pico Iyer sits down for tea and conversation with the Dalai Lama. We hope you’ll join in the celebration, and register for the Dalai Lama Global Vision Summit. (It’s free!)    —Rod Meade Sperry, editorial director, LionsRoar.com

The Dalai Lama, Heart of Compassion Roshi Joan Halifax reflects on personal moments with him that exemplified his compassion and wisdom. I went back to my seat in the conference and watched His Holiness shift his mental state, as quickly as stepping through an open doorway. His nimbleness of mind and heart was a good example of how the taste of suffering induces empathy, followed by compassion in someone who has trained the mind and heart to use suffering as a medicine to open to greater love and care. His Holiness is a powerful example for all of us today, as we face our imperiled world. His great and tender heart and his boundless wisdom open him to the truth of suffering and freedom from suffering.

Living the Compassionate Life This teaching by the Dalai Lama explains how the Buddhist teachings of mindfulness and compassion lead inevitably to feelings of self-confidence and kindness.  Whether people are beautiful or plain, friendly or cruel, ultimately they are human beings, just like oneself. Like oneself, they want happiness and do not want suffering. Furthermore, their right to overcome suffering and to be happy is equal to one’s own. Now, when you recognize that all beings are equal in both their desire for happiness and their right to obtain it, you automatically feel empathy and closeness for them. Through accustoming your mind to this sense of universal altruism, you develop a feeling of responsibility for others; you wish to help them actively overcome their problems. This wish is not selective; it applies equally to all beings. As long as they experience pleasure and pain just as you do, there is no logical basis to discriminate between them.

Over Tea with the Dalai Lama At the turn of the millennium, Pico Iyer, the acclaimed author of The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, had the opportunity to speak at length with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Here’s your chance to sit in on these intimate conversations, all full of humor, frankness, and poignancy. Pico Iyer: I think the last time I was in this room was eight years ago. How have things changed since then? His Holiness the Dalai Lama: Less hair, I think. Both of us!

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