His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama is a beacon of harmony, paving the way for understanding and peace between his own religion, Buddhism, and other faiths.<\/i><\/p>\n
One of the reverent names for the Dalai Lama is Kundun, which means \u2018presence\u2019 in his own language, Tibetan. The current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is the 14th of the Dalai Lamas, who are all believed to be manifestations of the Bodhisattva of Compassion, Avalokiteshvara, who is the patron saint of Tibet. Bodhisattvas were followers of the Buddha, who have achieved a spiritual maturity.<\/p>\n
Because Buddhists regard compassion as more laudable and sacred than any other virtue, Avalokiteshvara is revered more than any other Bodhisattva. Despite this the affable, humble Dalai Lama refers to himself as \u2018a simple Buddhist monk.\u2019<\/p>\n
Over the years, His Holiness has held and been involved in many interfaith gatherings. He has spent time with contemplatives and leaders of other faiths and has firm friends in other religions, for example Desmond Tutu. He famously spent time in silent contemplation under the Bodhi Tree in India (under which the Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment) with Christian monks and nuns, as well as Muslims, Hindus and Jains.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am committed to the view that genuine harmony between the world\u2019s religions is achievable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
As a young man, he was inspired by the American Trappist monk Thomas Merton\u2019s interfaith journeys around Asia, during which the pair had long talks. The Dalai Lama names Merton as one of the people who has most impacted his life: \u201cThe impact of meeting him will remain until my last breath,\u201d he said on a visit to Merton\u2019s Abbey in Kentucky, after Merton\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
He was also deeply inspired, he said, by a Benedictine monk he met at the monastery of Montserrat near Barcelona in the 1980s. Of his years as a hermit, the brother told the Dalai Lama that he had done nothing but meditate on love. Love being a central theme of Buddhism, the Dalai Lama said he felt a kindred spirit with Christian contemplatives.<\/p>\n
The essence of the Dalai Lama\u2019s belief in interfaith harmony is of course founded upon love: \u201cWhen it comes to actual spiritual practices, which I consider to be the essence of these religious teachings, as opposed to metaphysical or theological formulations, there is profound convergence across all traditions. All carry the message of love, compassion and universal brotherhood and sisterhood.\u201d<\/p>\n
When speaking of Christianity, he is ever in awe of Jesus\u2019 self-sacrifice, since suffering for others and serving others is a core part of his Buddhist beliefs and practice. \u201cTo a Buddhist like me, brought up to uphold the ideal of compassion as the highest possible spiritual value, the image of Jesus on the Cross \u2013 taking on himself the suffering of all beings \u2013 is deeply inspiring. Such self-sacrifice, born out of altruism and universal love for all beings, is a perfect example of what Buddhists might term the Bodhisattva ideal.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Dalai Lama has drawn parallels between the Gospel and Buddhist teachings. \u201cThe compassion embodied in Jesus that is beautifully captured in the scriptural commandment \u2018Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself\u2019\u2026 For a Buddhist, this is the essence of the practice of love and compassion.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also has a great reverence for the Biblical instruction to love your enemies. Upon first hearing the famous poem by St Francis of Assisi (\u2018Lord make me an instrument of Thy peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love\u2026\u2019), he thought he was listening a Buddhist text. The Way of the Bodhisattva, written by an 8th century Buddhist monk called Shantideva, is very similar to St Francis\u2019 poem in parts: \u201cAs long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain, until then, may I too remain and help dispel the miseries of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are all moved by love and we all need love and therefore we should regard all human beings (religious or secular) as brother or sisters. Then we will be truly bound by love in peace. Compassion,\u201d says the Dalai Lama, \u201cis the natural capacity of the human heart to feel concern for and connection with another being and it constitutes, he believes, the foundation of our happiness. When we see another person, let us feel our basic affinity. In this place, there are no strangers \u2013 all are brothers and sisters in their journeys through life.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Dalai Lama\u2019s words on interfaith harmony: \u201cFor a devout religious person, it becomes important to reserve faith for his or her own religion, while cultivating respect \u2013 in fact, deep reverence \u2013 for other religions\u2026 Finding a balance between single-pointed commitment to one\u2019s own faith and genuine openness to the value of other faiths has come to be a deep personal quest\u2026 Creating a single religion for the world, whether a new one or one of the old ones, is simply unfeasible.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ultimate reason to accord respect to other religions is to see that they, too, engender the beautiful qualities of the human heart and foster compassion and loving kindness \u2013 exactly the qualities one is striving to attain through one\u2019s own faith. While admitting our metaphysical differences, if we can truly appreciate that compassion is our collective and fundamental spiritual value, then we can speak with one voice.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Dalai Lama is co-authored Our Only Home<\/i>, a book about climate change. In Buddhism, trees are sacred; they sheltered Buddha during his birth, his enlightenment and his death. In the Himalayas, against whose backdrop the Dalai Lama lives, glaciers are melting. Billions of people in China and India depend on them for water.<\/p>\n
He doesn’t see the world in terms of countries. \u201cOur Mother Earth,\u201d he says \u201cis teaching us a lesson in universal responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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