"Ha ha ha - I'm just a simple Buddhist monk" he says with smiles and chuckles. Such a beloved one!
"At daybreak if the weather is fine, I go into the garden. This time of day is very special to me. The sky is clear, I see the stars, and I have this special feeling - of my insignificance in the cosmos, the realization of what we Buddhists call impermanence."
image from bookhaven.stanford.edu
"My religion is kindness," he says. Note the shoes under his chair, how he sits with his legs tucked up. When I saw him at the Peace Summit in Vancouver, he had a sun visor on and when people spoke at great length, or too loftily, he'd tilt his head down and appear to rest or meditate. But when someone said something especially well, he lit up.
image by T.C.Palm
"From the very core of our being we desire contentment. For harmony each individual's identity must be fully respected."
"In .... time I'll be eighty-three, just an old man with a stick moving like a sloth bear. While I'm alive, I'm fully committed to autonomy, and I am the person who can persuade the Tibetan people to accept it."
image by achievementgap.wordpress.com
"If you are showing love to your fellow human beings, you are showing love to your God.
Irrespective of whether you are a believer or non-believer, whether Buddhist, Christian or Jew, the important thing is to be a good human being."
Great One, with your rainbow heart, you show us how to respect every other human.
Great One, with your rainbow heart, you show us how to respect every other human.
image from ravencrow.org
"For me it is nothing - [whether it is a] new millenium or new century or new year. For me it is another day, another night. The sun, the moon, the stars remain the same."
from the Vancouver Peace Summit booklet
"All human beings come from a mother's womb. We are all the same part of one human family. We should have a clear realization of the oneness of all humanity.
"Around the world millions of people remain silent, but the majority want peace, not bloodshed.
I want to say without hesitation that the purpose of our life is happiness.
The more we care for the happiness of others,
the greater our own sense of well-being becomes.
"We need a little more compassion, and if we cannot have it then no politician or even a magician can save the planet."
Wise soul,
beautiful mind,
warm heart,
when you
show us your smile,
we understand
better
how to
love.
I highly recommend to anyone interested, the dvd What Remains Of Us, a Canadian documentary exploring the survival of the nonviolent resistance movement inside Tibet. The film follows the journey of a young girl of Chinese background, who travels inside Tibet, secretly carrying a filmed message from the Dalai Lama to his followers inside Tibet. Going into their houses, this girl secretly showed the Dalai Lama's message to his people, a household at a time. The looks on the faces of the people, especially the most elderly, as they saw his face and heard his words, is heart-wrenching. 103 Tibetans bravely speak out on the film about human rights. To protect them, the National Film Board observes strict security surrounding screenings. According to internet sources, so far none of the 103 have been arrested.
This guy would never make it in the United States. Why, he didn't say anything against gays, and he never said one word about how God wants you to be rich. Basic stuff, really.
ReplyDelete*wink*
I loved this article Sherry and the photos that you placed within it as well. To be such as he, to know such peace and gentle strength, to be able to see both miracles in the small moments of time, and the smallness of self in those great things. Wonderful and thank you for sharing! ♥☼♫
ReplyDeleteI so love the Dalai Lama. An inspiring look at how to be one's best possible self, even while in his own lifetime he has suffered invasion, flight and exile.
ReplyDeleteHi Sherry!
ReplyDeleteWould like you to know that I have had the good fortune of interacting with other souls perhaps as holy as His Holiness, only that were a lot more reclusive, and let me tell you that the Dalai Lama His holiness fulfills a political role too and is deceptively mild and humorous, you got to read between the lines in what he says!
Once I met a monk who, at times spoke of certain things as it appeared to him cinematique, as he said,and it did come true! And he was equally jocular, making fun in simple terms, laughing uproariously, even smoking a cigarette and in the evenings, he sang on to the heavens and prayed with us, singing with us and talked to us. explaining a lot of things in a way only the most learned can, for example, he could go on for hours about the historical evidence and the philological origins of Krshna..
What a privilege to have interacted with such an amazing being! I love hearing about reclusive monks with such advanced wisdom. They see farther and truer, operating as they do on a higher energy vibration. That must have been a wonderful experience.
ReplyDeleteI do know the Dalai Lama is a political being, as well as a spiritual one. I think he is the right one for the job at this point in time, but I worry about what will happen after his death.
Thanks for your very interesting comment. I would so love to sit and listen to that old monk talk and sing under the moon!