Dharamsala, October 24 – The 17th Gyalwang Karmapa said that there are more ways than one to be kind and generous towards others. “We as Buddhists believe that benefiting others is an act of kindness, and the first thing that comes to our mind as act of kindness is giving alms to the poor. That’s not just it, there are many ways to be kind. Taking care of the environment and nature is also a very important act of kindness that can benefit many humans and animals alike in the future.”
The young religious leader was speaking at a modest gathering here at the McLeod Ganj Day School on the occasion of the International Day of Climate Action that is being observed today through out the world. Gyalwang Karmapa also inaugurated a signature drive on climate action with his signature on a giant piece of cloth.
The head of the Kagyu tradition of the Tibetan Buddhism took the audience by surprise when he shifted his role from that of chief guest to a resource person by giving a PowerPoint presentation on environment, which was not in the organizers’ list of today’s programmes. The young Buddhist leader said every human being has a responsibility towards the nature and must act now if the fight against climate change and destruction of environment has to be won.
“Human greed is unlimited and uncertain. We have the wants for many things we don’t even put to use. I heard most Tibetan families in the settlements have one or more motorcycles. We all know that we Tibetans like to follow the west. There are many westerners who go on long bicycle rides as far as Ladakh. So why not we Tibetans get rid off our motorcycles and get bicycles,” Gyalwang Karmpa said as he laughed away along with the audience.
The Environment and Development Desk of the exile Tibetan government, the Clean Upper Dharamsala Project of the Tibetan Settlement Office, and Tesi Environment Awareness Movement jointly organized today’s event that was attended among others by the deputy speaker of the Tibetan Parliament, members of the Tibetan Parliament and representative of the various institutes and organizations.
