Subject: Buddhism in Practice, by H. H. the Dalai Lama
From: [email-masked]
Newsgroups: soc.religion.eastern

Buddhism in Practice
	by H. H. the Dalai Lama
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Reprinted, with permission, from the Spring 1993 issue of Snow Lion
Newsletter and Catalog.
 
Rinchen Dharlo, the representative of H.H. the Dalai Lama in N.
America asked to have the following article printed.  It is very
relevant for Westerners to consider these thoughts carefully and
for all of us to do what we can.
 
I am very happy today to communicate with all of you American
Buddhists from [the Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center], the oldest
of the Tibetan Buddhist monastic centers in America.  It is
encouraging to note the present spread of Tibetan Buddhism, some
1000 centers around the world with over 250 in the United States
alone.  As I often say, Buddhism has a special gift for helping
people calm their minds and learn to live more happily.  In the
midst of what can accurately be called "the Buddhist holocaust"
of the 20th century, we Tibetans were forced into exile by the
Chinese invasion of our homeland.  Since then, we have been
privileged to share the gifts of Buddhism with fellow beings of
other nations, who all must face the countless difficulties of
life in our restless, anxious, modern world.  Perhaps the only
good thing that has come from our tragedy is the spread of the
teaching and practice of Tibetan Buddhism.
 
Of course, it would have been much better for everyone if it
could have happened without such an unspeakable toll of human
suffering.  Imagine, Tibetan lamas could have come out to teach
in different countries, travelling with their visas stamped on
Tibetan passports!  Western Dharma students could have freely
come into Tibet's peaceful mountains to enjoy her fresh air,
study at her monastic universities, and meditate in her inspiring
solitudes.
 
I say this not just to complain about our ordeal but because I
have noticed that people tend to adopt a sort of fatalism about
the history and problem of Tibet; "Well, it had to happen that
way - otherwise Tibetans would not have come out of isolation
into the world."  Thinking this way can make them slow to take
action to try to improve the real Tibetan situation, to solve the
Tibetan problem, the human problem of six million Tibetan human
persons.
 
Now, it is a useful practice to reflect on one's own suffering,
to think of it as the "return of one's own karma," and thus get
the benefit of cultivating patience with one's difficulties.  But
it is not useful, nor compassionate, to be patient about the
sufferings of others.  In fact, as Shantideva says, the
bodhisattva should be absolutely intolerant of the sufferings of
others, should find them utterly unbearable.
 
To give a personal example, I have said that I myself have
actually benefitted from the hardships of losing my homeland and
wandering in exile - and I meant it.  Not having a sheltered life
and having to suffer and struggle has helped me to grow.  Worldly
difficulty can lead to faster spiritual growth and greater
strength of mind, and I personally am quite content with my lot. 
I have been given the inspiration to take the Buddha Dharma
seriously and the opportunity to work hard to put it into
practice.  I cannot complain.  Yet the plight of my people, the
six million Tibetans who look to me to help them, is different -
I cannot forget their cries.  How can I pray and recite the
bodhisattva vow to save all beings from suffering and the cause
of suffering, and at the same time leave anything undone that
could actually help these suffering people who are my immediate
responsibility?  So I am always trying to do as much as I can.
 
Perhaps my example can help other Buddhists who want to maintain
their spiritual practice and also want to work for the good of
society.  In the past, scholars have said that Buddhism was
single-minded in its focus on Nirvana, giving up the mundane
world as a hopeless case.  With this preconception, they thought
that Buddhism made very little contribution to civilization,
letting social problems go their own way.  Now, it may be true
that Buddhist persons and institutions could have done a better 
job of helping people in different periods and different
countries.  But I believe that from the time of Buddha until
today all forms of Buddhism have been continuously trying to help
people, whether in social groups or individually.  It has never
been the case that Buddhism did not care about the world.  The
freedom and happiness of all living beings have always been the
ultimate ideal and the working goal.
 
Tibetan civilization is very much a product of the socially
transformative power of Buddhism.  Brought from India by the
great Emperor Songsten Gampo in the 7th century, Buddhist wisdom
began its slow but steady work of making the people more gentle,
happy and peaceful.  After a few centuries, Tibetans had become
so fond of the Buddha Dharma that they made great efforts to make
it the center of their lives, even without the support of a royal
dynasty.  Finally, after one thousand years, Tibetans succeeded
in expressing Buddhist ideals in the national government itself,
established as the integration of the sacred and the secular by
the Fifth Dalai Lama in the 17th century.  We believed that the
Buddha's teaching was the indispensable key to achieving national
as well as individual happiness.  So our whole social system -
our culture, arts and life style - was centered on people's
spiritual development according to the Dharma.  Though we never
achieved perfection, we did preserve many unique teachings and
traditions, some of them long lost to other Buddhist countries. 
But I don't need to say too much about this, as I know many of
you have come to realize the preciousness of Tibetan Buddhism, to
cherish it just as we do.
 
I have been very moved on this trip because so many people have
expressed to me, in actions as well as words, their respect, not
only for the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism, but also for their
source, namely, Tibetan culture and civilization, which itself is
ultimately rooted nowhere else than in the living hearts of the
Tibetan people.  Tibetan culture belongs to all humanity, and its
extinction would not just affect Tibetans, but all humanity.  We,
therefore, appeal to the members of all other cultures to help
the Tibetans preserve our unique and rich cultural heritage.
 
Our friends in the Congress of the United States have acted
powerfully to express their support for our cause, urging China
to cease her attempts to eliminate the Tibetan race, erase the
Tibetan nation from history, and eradicate the Tibetan culture. 
These senators and representatives will increasingly need your
help and the help of all Buddhists, all religious persons, all
humanists, and all friends of Tibet, to make an even stronger
push to get China to change her attitude.  This push is urgent
and essential to save our people and culture before it is too
late.  For China, too, it is an emergency because if her leaders
do not change their present course, it will eventually rebound
upon themselves in a negative way.  But I do not wish to
elaborate on this, as I am basically an optimist and still have
great hope that sanity will prevail and that good and truth will
triumph.
 
You might be surprised, but I think such optimism is quite
practical.  For, you see, everyone just wants happiness. If we
investigate the human heart, not just to follow religious
teaching, but to analyze carefully what is really there, we find
that what everyone wants, what gives satisfaction, is the warm
heart, the good heart, compassion and love.  These give calmness,
tranquillity, and real contentment; and that gives inner
strength.  On the other hand, hatred, anger, and greed simply
produce uneasiness and always more dissatisfaction.  Even nations
need to control and minimize anger and hatred; it is the only way
they can avoid suffering and bring their people happiness.  So
nations will eventually do the right thing, because it is in the
ultimate best interest of their people.  Goodness is finally the
most practical, the most realistic solution.
 
Perhaps most of you already know the importance of compassion and
love.  The practice of compassion is what gives me greatest
satisfaction.  No matter what the circumstances, no matter what
kind of tragedy I am facing, I practice compassion.  This gives
me inner strength ad happiness.  This gives me the feeling that
my life is useful.  So you see, up to now - I am 57 years of age
going on 58 - I have tried my best to practice these things, and
will continue to do so until my last breath, my last day.  I
myself, you see, am the devoted servent of compassion.  That is
the way I really feel.
 
We need public support, the active expression of your goodwill
towards us.  Please keep this in mind, and whenever the occasion
arises express your deep sympathy towards the Tibetan cause.  As
Buddhist practitioners, you should understand the necessity of
preserving Tibetan Buddhism.  For this the land, the physical
country of Tibet, is crucial.  We have tried our best to preserve
the Tibetan traditions outside Tibet for almost thirty years, and
we have been comparatively successful.  But eventually, after our
time, there is a real danger that they will change, that they
will not survive away from the protective nurture of our
homeland.  So, for the sake of preserving Tibetan Buddhism, which
can be seen as a complete form of the Buddha Dharma, the sacred
land of Tibet is vitally important.  It is very unlikely that it
can survive as a cultural and spiritual entity if its physical
reality is smothered under Chinese occupation.  So we cannot
avoid taking responsibility in trying to improve its political
situation.
 
Clearly, in this light, active support for the Tibetan cause is
not just a matter of politics.  It is the work of Dharma.  We are
not against the Chinese; we, in fact, have a deep admiration for
the Chinese civilization.  We are only trying to gain our rights,
to save our people, and to preserve our Buddha Dharma.
 
I dream of a new Tibet - a free land, a zone of peace - where my
six million people can restore our spiritual way of life while
becoming attuned to the best aspects of the modern world.  I see
it as a place where all people - not excluding our eastern
neighbor - can visit and enjoy the fresh air and brilliant
mountain light, can find inspiration in a peaceful, spiritual way
of life, and perhaps can learn to understand their own worlds
better by getting away for a little while to meditate at our high
altitude.  With your help we can return there.  Now is the time
when your action is practice. 
 
Thank you very much.