Dalai Lama: "I am fully committed to the oneness of humanity"
Prayer doesn’t bring a peaceful world. We can pray for a thousand years and nothing will happen
I am a Buddhist, I have a daily practice of prayer but I do not believe prayer brings a peaceful world. We can keep praying for a thousand years and nothing will happen. We should be realistic. If you have the opportunity to meet the Buddha or Jesus Christ, ask them to bring peace to this world and they will certainly ask you, who creates violence? If god created violence, then yes, it’s relevant to appeal to god. I am certain that Buddha and Jesus Christ would tell us, you have created the problem, so it’s your responsibility to solve it.
I am a Buddhist, I have a daily practice of prayer but I do not believe prayer brings a peaceful world. We can keep praying for a thousand years and nothing will happen. We should be realistic. If you have the opportunity to meet the Buddha or Jesus Christ, ask them to bring peace to this world and they will certainly ask you, who creates violence? If god created violence, then yes, it’s relevant to appeal to god. I am certain that Buddha and Jesus Christ would tell us, you have created the problem, so it’s your responsibility to solve it.
We are all social
animals and compassion, care and concern for others brings us together. Animals
may be violent but only human beings make war. However, this may be changing.
In the early part of the 20th century, when one nation declared war on the
other, every citizen joined the war effort, without asking questions. This has
no longer been the case from the latter part of the 20th century. When a
government declares, or contemplates war, quite often citizens speak up against
it. Many Americans were against the Vietnam War and during the Iraq War,
millions expressed their desire for peace. So humans, I feel, are becoming more
mature. They also know that war brings with it immense destruction. There are
no winners. Everyone suffers. I am an admirer of the European Union. I think if
the European Union hadn’t been formed, there would have been fighting among
member states. Therefore, this is an indication that people are fed up with
violence. People now consider common interest to be more important than just
personal national interest and I admire this. I think there is hope.
On a world without
violence: I think theoretically
it’s possible. Now it all depends on our efforts, mainly through education and
closer contact. The only way to remove suspicion is close friendships.
Unfortunately, there is violence in the name of religion. Look at Iraq and
Syria. Thousands and thousands of young children are dying in Syria. How could
we have created such a situation, how can we see another human being dying and
remain indifferent. I am fully committed to the oneness of humanity. If we
share these common feelings, then we will have no ground for violence or war.
It’s difficult but possible to achieve, through education, not through prayer.
I met someone who asked me, please pray. I said, I am a Buddhist, I have a
daily practice of prayer but I do not believe prayer brings a peaceful world.
We can keep praying for a thousand years and nothing will happen. We should be
realistic. If you have the opportunity to meet the Buddha or Jesus Christ, ask
them to bring peace to this world and they will certainly ask you, who creates
violence? If god created violence, then yes, it’s relevant to appeal to god. I
am certain that Buddha and Jesus Christ would tell us, you have created the
problem, so it’s your responsibility to solve it. Work for peace, the easy
thing to do is pray.
On the role of
education: Modern education is
oriented towards material values. So where inner value is concerned, we totally
rely on religious faith. In ancient times it was fine, ethics were the province
of religion but now out of seven billion human beings, more than one billion
declare that they have no faith. Among those who claim to have faith are many
who lack conviction. All major religions teach us forgiveness, tolerance and
love, then why do people who follow religion create violence? We don’t take the
real message of one’s own faith seriously.
Education should
include the value of compassion, irrespective of whether you are a non-believer
or a believer. The existing education system must include lessons about the
importance of inner peace. My commitment is to promote deeper human values, not
through prayer or religious faith, but through education, awareness, scientific
findings and common sense. That’s my number one commitment. My second
commitment is to promote religious harmony.
On the next Dalai
Lama: As early as 1969, I
had said that whether the institution of the Dalai Lama should continue, is up
to the Tibetan people. That is still my principle. During meetings with
spiritual leaders, we decided that when I am around 90, then we will discuss
the issue seriously. The Chinese Government seems to be more serious (about
it). Sometimes I jokingly say that in order to know more about reincarnation,
Chinese Communists should first accept the concept of reincarnation. Then they
will have the moral right to show concern about the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation.
If the situation remains like this, then I will die in this country.
Reincarnation does not necessarily happen in the place where the person has
died. But in a place of no freedom — how can it be, (it’s) impossible.
On a free Tibet: The Chinese government
is constantly describing me as a splittist, which is absolutely not true. Since
1974, we are fully committed to not seek independence. As I said earlier, I’m
an admirer of the European Union, so we in Tibet look at them and have decided
to remain with China. It is of immense benefit to us. But we must have complete
freedom to preserve our own culture and rich Buddhist knowledge. Many Chinese
are showing a genuine eagerness to learn from our tradition. Preservation of
Tibetan language is important. In Tibet, some narrow-minded local authorities
are trying to eliminate the language. This is due to short-sightedness and
fear. Since we are not seeking separation, (Tibetan) language and knowledge is
part of the culture of China. Therefore, there is mutual benefit in not seeking
independence, to remain with the Republic of China. But we should have freedom
to preserve our own culture and language. The Chinese Constitution itself
recognises this. The minorities must be respected.
On the disciple
turning guru: Before Buddhism
reached Tibet in the 7th century, we had our own traditional religion that was
not very sophisticated. In the 8th century, a top scholar of Nalanda,
Santaraksita, was invited to Tibet where he established Tibetan Buddhism according
to the Nalanda tradition. Uptill my generation, we studied the Nalanda
tradition extensively. All our main texts were written by Nalanda philosophers.
Therefore, I consider Indians to be our gurus. But now I think the chela has
become the guru. I am dedicated to the revival of ancient Indian knowledge in
this country. We should be committed towards creating a draft about secular
ethics that can fit in the secular educational field. We are now thinking
seriously about this ancient knowledge that we have kept intact. We are
determined to share it with Indians, the traditional owners of this knowledge.
In my lifetime, I want to preserve and revive ancient Indian knowledge. The
modern Indian is completely ignorant about these things. People follow rituals
but don’t study them. They need to be studied rigorously. We are already
thinking on those lines. At monastries and institutions, we should set up study
groups where not just nuns or monks but even lay students can come and learn.
On the meaning of
‘Om Mani Padme Hum’: The mantra is the
manifestation of Buddha’s compassion. ‘Om’, the word with three syllables,
represents the body, speech and mind. It represents the self. ‘Mani’ means
jewel and represents warm-heartedness - karuna, mahakaruna. ‘Padme’ means wisdom,
the ultimate reality and ‘hum’ means inseparable. So warm-heartedness and
understanding, these two practices should combine, should conjoin. In order to
purify ‘I’, compassion and wisdom must combine. Through that, the self can
purify and reach a permanent state of happiness, nirvana. That’s the meaning of
‘Om Mani Padme Hum’.
On violence in
India: India is the most
populated democracy and there will be some mischievous people. So these things
happen, it’s normal and they are reported in the media. The media has an
important responsibility. It should report all that is happening — murders,
rapes — but at the same time if the news is always negative, then the reader
may start thinking that basic human nature is negative and the future of
humanity is doomed. So, we must report on whatever is happening but at the same
time, we must occasionally provide readers with something positive.
