The Open Road

[image from google images]

Last night I read late, late, The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, by Pico Iyer. A few thoughtful quotes from this very interesting book, which is an inside look into the Dalai Lama's life. The quotes are Pico's reflections as he meets with and sometimes travels with the Dalai Lama, based on his observations and conversations with the Tibetan leader.

Everything changes, falls away, dies....yet everything comes back again, and change itself is a kind of constancy. Life, as some Buddhists have it, is 'a joyful participation in a world of sorrows'. The mind [is] something that we [have] the potential to transform. So too, therefore, [is] the world that the mind created.

Recent research.....suggest[s] that those who score high on tests for happiness live longer than others, in part because happiness is a function not so much of our circumstances as of our perceptions. People who win the lottery often profess themselves no better off than before--they dont know who their friends are, they feel uincomfortable in their new posh neighborhoods, they spend all their time with lawyers; yet others, who are suddenly rendered paraplegic, after roughly a year of adjustment, confess themselves really no worse off than before. The mind, as Milton puts it at the beginning of Paradise Lost "can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n."

The Buddhist talks not so much about good and evil, as about ignorance and awakening.....he brings all responsibility inward....to see how he can better understand and resolve the problem within.

The Dalai Lama....exult[s] in meeting people from different traditions....and seeing what they have in common beneath their designations.

Where the Christian believes in transcendence of everyday life, through finding a higher life in God, the Buddhist generally believes in the transformation of it, by finding the better life in the here and now.

Very interesting reading, and easy to grasp for the Western reader.

Word from the Dalai Lama

[image from time.com]

In New Delhi in November the Dalai Lama called for disarmament to pave the way for peace. He called for a violence-free world, and the need to demilitarize the world. "But before we work for universal disarmament, we must first go through internal disarmament," the Ocean of Widom said.

The Dalai Lama said that in the last century 200 million lives - two hundred million sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, husbands and wives, were lost in war and bloodshed.

He pointed out that billions of dollars are being spent on nuclear weapons, while poverty is left unsolved at both national and global levels.

"Some people, when confronted with many global problems.....feel helpless and discouraged. That is a mistake," the Dalai Lama said. "The inititiative must come from individuals. Small acts of kindness do make a difference."

Thank you, Great One. I needed that message of hope.

Beautiful Soul

 image by ravencrow.org

"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.

     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.