By Tenzin Dharpo
DHARAMSHALA, Nov. 16: The Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama on Monday at a public gathering in Koyasan, Japan urged his Buddhist followers to give importance to investigation and logic while living a life of a Buddhist and not just chant and follow rituals.
“Logic and investigation are essential. Buddhism in the Nalanda tradition is very close to the scientific progress. It’s not just chanting, chanting,” the Tibetan leader said. In that respect, he mentioned that he has emphasized collaborating with scientists and included science in the curriculum for 10,000 monks and many nuns in major monastic institutions in exile.
While answering queries from the audience, he encouraged people to accept death as a part of life and the sadness and grief for a loved one be used as a motivation to do good to others. Recalling a personal experience concerning the 6th Ling Rinpoche, the Dalai Lama said that he felt sad after his death since Rinpoche was his big support for him.
He said, “When I lost my senior tutor, Ling Rinpoche, I was very sad. He seemed as essential to me as a support on my neck. But then I thought this sadness isn’t helping anything! Better use the sadness to advantage, and find in it an incentive to do what my teacher advised me to do. We can turn sadness to powerful advantage for others.”
The 81 year old Tibetan leader also said that the concept of ‘us’ and ‘them’ is an ancient and outdated thinking and that global warming and the environment do not make a distinction between countries and minor differences. “Any unrealistic effort fails to bring what you want. We must act according to reality. And in order to know the reality, our minds must be open and we should have a wider perspective,” he said.
Speaking on the topic of the day, ‘The Mission of Buddhists in the 21st Century’, he said that the rich must help the poor in a ‘spirit of fellow humanity’ and not in a condescending manner. He praised the charitable works of Christian monks and nuns and regarded them as a ‘model for all’.
“The Buddha doesn’t wash away our sins or liberate us. He shows us the way by which we can liberate ourselves,” the 81-year old Dalai Lama said, implying that each of us had to carve our own way through by following and investigating what the Buddha had said.
The spiritual leader will give a public talk on ‘Compassion: The Key to Happiness’ organized by the Liaison Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama on November 17 in Yokohama, Japan.
