Political events in the course of the last century have forced the issue of human rights to the top of the agenda for Buddhists and Buddhism in Asia. Renato Palmi of the Tibet Society of South Africa reports.
The Chinese invasion of Tibet, the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka and the military dictatorship of Burma have all provided Buddhism with first-hand experience of human rights abuses.
“Socially-engaged Buddhism” is a new concept being developed in the West by followers of Buddhism. It is a personal commitment to awaken peace where there is conflict by peaceful means.
Many Westerners who follow Tibetan Buddhism are unable to, or by conscious wish will not, perceive the plight of the Tibetan people and the preservation of Tibetan Buddhism as an inter-linked issue. In a message to Buddhists worldwide, the Dalai Lama said during his visit to South Africa in 1999:
” Change only takes place through action. Frankly speaking, not through prayer or meditation, but through action.”
Unfortunately, his words have fallen on many closed or deaf ears. Tibet has been and possibly is the prime source of Buddhist Teachings. It is ironic to think that it was the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1950, the enforced escape of the Dalai Lama and the continued flight of many thousands of his people from their homeland, that has facilitated access for Westerners access to Tibetan Buddhist teachings.
The position of the Dalai Lama as the leader of an exiled community has forced him to come to terms with a world that is very different from the traditional Buddhist society in which he was born. All Tibetans look to him as the key figure in their struggle for freedom. He has risen to the challenge, and has become not only the most prominent advocate of the Tibet cause, but also its main theoretician. As a Buddhist leader, he believes that he has a responsibility to all sentient beings, but states that much of his energy is focused on the cause of Tibet and so encourages Western Buddhists to activate this cause in the same manner in which he approaches the subject, i.e. following the “middle path” of non-violence.
In a speech to Buddhists in America, the Dalai Lama made a direct plea:
” As Buddhist practitioners, you should understand the necessity of preserving Tibetan Buddhism. For the land, the country of Tibet, this is crucial. We have tried our best to preserve the Tibetan traditions outside Tibet, but eventually, there is a real danger that they will not survive away from the protective nurture of our homeland. Therefore, for the sake of preserving Tibetan Buddhism, which can be seen as a complete form of Buddha Dharma, the sacred land of Tibet is vital. We cannot avoid taking responsibility in trying to improve the political situation inside Tibet.”
Western Buddhist practitioners should be made aware that while they are free to continue with their dharma practice, the Tibetan people inside Tibet cannot. It is for the sake of those oppressed Tibetans that Western Buddhists need to become socially engaged in human rights activism.
As an activist for Tibet, I often ask the following: “Imagine one of the (other) great Masters as being still with us, and s/he and his/her people having to flee their homeland in order to practice their faith in peace, while at the same time trying their best to find a solution to the occupation of his/her homeland. Imagine yourself in a faraway land, following this Master’s faith in peace and comfort – would you not have the desire to help and serve the Master of your faith in whatever way possible?
So, the next time you are meditating, think of those Tibetan monks and nuns being jailed, tortured or killed merely for following their faith. Then, I beseech you, translate those loving thoughts into loving action, and undertake to become a socially engaged Buddhist.
