It has been several days since I came back from traveling to India and interviewing His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama Danzanjamts for my “defacto” television program. Last week I wrote an article titled “Mongolia’s great spiritual shift” to summarize and reflect the Dalai Lama’s teachings that could relate to our society, economy, and public governance today. This time I would like to convey his messages about life and happiness.
TRUE MEANING OF LIFE
Everywhere there are many people who are only living for money and material things. However, some of them, maybe most of them, are seeking for the meaning of life rather than wealth because money and power do not bring inner peace. Sometimes, the richer and more powerful one becomes, the more issues and problems one finds.
The most important goal or purpose must not be money and wealth. External material development must be combined with inner development. Everyone is emotional – they get happy, sad, and empathetic. It is related to our heart and mind. Therefore, inner value is the real source of bringing inner peace. The purpose of life is happiness. In order to have a happy life, one needs not only external material things but also inner development.
Material value and material development should be combined with our rich tradition of several centuries old. Material development, modern technology, and modern education provide us with physical comfort whereas traditional value brings inner comfort.
BUDDHA IS NOT THE CREATOR OF EVERYTHING
Spirituality does not have to come together with religion. Spirituality is very important for happiness. The same goes for secularity. Spirituality and religion are not necessarily together.
It has already been proven by science peace of mind is essential to being healthy. So constant anger, hatred, fear is harmful for our health. You cannot buy peace of mind in a supermarket. It is value created by the individual. It is wrong to think it is okay to do something wrong as long as you seek forgiveness and compassion afterwards. In Buddhism, we have no concept of a creator of everything. Buddha is a teacher. Buddha teaches us how to build a peace of mind. Since he is not the creator of everything, Buddha cannot forgive our future. Our future must be created by ourselves with the right motivation, with the right vision and with the right behavior. Buddha says, you are your own master, so your future depends on you. It is in your hands.
BEING COMPASSIONATE
In some countries, poor people are regarded as bad people who are paying for the sins they made in their previous life. In India, the caste system says that the poor people are poor because of their own karma, their own destiny. Buddhist point of view explains that it is wrong. Everyone is equal at the fundamental level. Buddha treated beggars and poor people with great generosity. . On one occasion, Buddha saw a sick person, had his disciple bring water, and washed the sick man’s his feet himself. That’s how Buddha, our teacher, shows us by example.
Even those who are wealthy will have to work as hard as others to live happy. Those who can offer support in education and health to others should do so. Therefore, you can never say that a poor person is having his karma and living his destiny. Many people are lacking compassionate mind. It is the same in Tibet. The lack of compassion is even found in some senior lamas. They might think that they cannot come close to some poor people because they remain too high to take care of them. This is absolutely wrong. It is time for some monasteries to pay attention to it. We need to understand our wrongdoings and must change.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SUPERSTITION AND RELIGION
There are no good days or bad days to do something. Buddha stated clearly that things happen due to your own previous karma. It means everything depends on your own behavior, not because of the movement of certain planets, stars or specific days. The Fifth Dalai Lama mentioned in his autobiography that on the day of his birth a very special star came out. At the end, he also said that at the same time a lot of dogs were also born.
Before Buddhism reached Tibet and other central Asian countries, there were religious beliefs similar to shamanism in the 7-8th century. When Buddhism first reached Tibet, there were some difficulties, even clashes, at the beginning. As time passed by, people grew to see Buddhism in a more positive way. Eventually, the Tibetan emperors fully accepted the Buddhist philosophy and religion. Buddhist concept and philosophy influenced greatly on shamanism. Nowadays, the Pen tradition, which is very similar to Buddhist tradition, lives on in Tibet.
VALUES OF LIFE
Happiness is the value of life. If a person takes the shortcut, eliminates enemies to gain some sort of short term happiness, it will not truly bring a happy life in the long term. If you abstain from doing bad things to others and try helping them when you can, you will have the chance to reach a truly happy life. It allows you to reflect on your life and feel true happiness that you have had a meaningful life where you helped others. Those who spend all their life seeking for fame and wealth do not have anything to remember at the end of their life. Such wealth, jewelries, and power cannot make anyone escape from death.
Please read more about what the Dalai Lama said about human characteristics from the next article.
2015.01.07