135 posts tagged “dalai lama”
The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama today confirmed that discussions between the Dalai Lama and a senior US Government delegation took place in Dharamsala on September 13 and 14.
Whenever Buddhism has taken root in a new land, there has been a certain variation in the style in which it is observed. The Buddha himself taught differently according to the place, the occasion and the situation of those who were listening to him.
~ H.H. The 14th Dalai Lama
Sometimes, the thought of “I” suddenly arises with great force. . . . The situation is like that of a rock or a tree seen protruding up from the peak of a hill on the horizon: From afar it may be mistaken for a human being. Yet the existence of a human in that rock or tree is only an illusion. On deeper investigation, no human being can be found in any of the individual pieces of the protruding entity, nor in its collection of parts, nor in any other aspect of it. Nothing in the protrusion can be said to be a valid basis for the name “human being.”
Likewise, the solid “I” which seems to exist somewhere within the body and mind is merely an imputation. The body and mind are no more represented by the sense of “I” than is the protruding rock represented by the word “human.” This “I” cannot be located anywhere within any individual piece of the body and mind, nor is it found within the body and mind as a collection, nor is there a place outside of these that could be considered to be a substantial basis of the object referred to by the name “I.”
~ The Second Dalai Lama (1475-1542), in Samuel Bercholz’s Entering the Stream
We the undersigned Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, human rights leaders and concerned individuals wish to express our concern at the current deterioration of the human rights situation in Tibet, and the apparent breakdown of the talks between the Chinese government and emissaries of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. We are dismayed at the lack of any concrete progress toward resolving the conflict over the autonomy and religious freedom of the Tibetan people, and urge all parties involved to redouble their effort to achieve this vital goal.
"To our dear friend His Holiness the Dalai Lama, we say: we stand with you. You define non-violence and compassion and goodness. Clearly China does not know you. It is our sincere hope that they will. We call on China's government to know His Holiness the Dalai Lama, as we and so many others have come to know him during the long decades he has spent in exile.
"We ask the esteemed Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner
for Human Rights to visit Tibet, and request that she be given access
to assess and report to the international community the current state
of affairs for the Tibetan people.
::continue reading here
Charles Darwin could have been a Buddhist, according to a scholar who has identified "amazing" similarities between his writing and Tibetan philosophy.
Passages in which the Victorian scientist addressed compassion and morality were "virtually the same, or exactly the same" as Tibetan Buddhist texts, according to Professor Paul Ekman, a psychologist who studies the links between human emotions and facial expression.
Prof Ekman said that his friend the Dalai Lama had also remarked on the parallels. He said: "When I read the Dalai Lama some of Darwin's passages he said: 'I will now call myself a Darwinian'."
Darwin is best known for devising the theory of evolution to explain to diversity of species, but also wrote widely about the emotional bonds between humans, and similarities between the emotions of humans and animals.
"The Buddhist view, like Darwin, said that the seed of compassion is in mothering, global compassion: focus on others as mother. When I see you suffer it makes me suffer, and that motivates me to reduce your suffering so I can reduce my suffering," Prof Ekman told the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Chicago.
There’s a new law in force in China these days that says the Chinese authorities in future would choose reincarnating Tibetan lamas. Partly in anticipation of such a move and mostly to keep pace with the changing times, His Holiness the Dalai Lama said he has been toying with different methods to choose his successor. This standoff between Tibetan Buddhism and the Chinese Communist Party has brought international media spotlight on this unique system of selecting Tibetan spiritual leaders and on one culture’s spiritual beliefs and a state’s political ambitions.
Buddhists
believe that highly realized beings have the capacity to choose where
and when they want to be reborn. It’s a matter of putting the efforts
of a lifetime (or, in most cases, lifetimes) to adjust one’s internal
mechanism to reach the level when one could project one’s spiritual
qualities over time and space. These qualities enable highly realized
beings to manifest themselves simultaneously in several places, as the
historical Buddha did when he was seen teaching at several places at
the same time. Or, over many lifetimes, rebirth after rebirth, and in
different life forms, as the Buddha did and which forms the basis and
the moral of the classic book, the Jataka Tales.
::link to more
There’s a new law in force in China these days that says the Chinese authorities in future would choose reincarnating Tibetan lamas. Partly in anticipation of such a move and mostly to keep pace with the changing times, His Holiness the Dalai Lama said he has been toying with different methods to choose his successor. This standoff between Tibetan Buddhism and the Chinese Communist Party has brought international media spotlight on this unique system of selecting Tibetan spiritual leaders and on one culture’s spiritual beliefs and a state’s political ambitions.
Buddhists
believe that highly realized beings have the capacity to choose where
and when they want to be reborn. It’s a matter of putting the efforts
of a lifetime (or, in most cases, lifetimes) to adjust one’s internal
mechanism to reach the level when one could project one’s spiritual
qualities over time and space. These qualities enable highly realized
beings to manifest themselves simultaneously in several places, as the
historical Buddha did when he was seen teaching at several places at
the same time. Or, over many lifetimes, rebirth after rebirth, and in
different life forms, as the Buddha did and which forms the basis and
the moral of the classic book, the Jataka Tales.
::link to more
TibetInfoNet - www.tibetinfonet.net
News Digest 31. Jan 2009 - 13. Feb 2009
==============================
- Two sentenced in Kardze
- Four nuns and two laymen sentenced in Kardze
- Details of Kardze Protests Emerge
- Seven monks arrested, abbot missing in Chamdo
- Nine monks sentenced, other committed suicide
- More Tibet unrest cannot be ruled out - officials
- Tibetan nomads, farmers may be losers in China's ecology protection plan
- So far 76 sentenced for 2008 unrest in TAR
- Dalai Lama: situation as "very tense"
- China wants to "improve" regional autonomy
- Many Tibetan areas closed to foreigners
Continue reading "tibet news digest 31 january 2009 - 13 february 2009" »
While we may concentrate on one particular aspect of the path at a time, it is important to have an overall balance between the different aspects. Meditation should progress hand in hand with study, without either one being neglected. Having cleared away doubts intellectually, we should integrate our understanding with the experience of meditation. In this way our practice will be balanced and complete.
~ His Holiness the Dalai Lama, A Flash of Lightning in the Dark of Night
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