The Dalai Lama is in the U.S. this week, giving a 10-day Tibetan Buddhist teaching in Washington DC. Several friends of mine from the Seattle Tibetan community have made the trip across the country to take part in the event (it’s called “Kalachakra for World Peace,”) and even those who could not attend and remained here at home in the Pacific Northwest are nevertheless excited that the teaching is taking place.
Yesterday morning I was thinking about my friends who are in DC. I stepped out my front door -- I was headed toward our barn to feed the sheep and goat and chickens -- and took only three or four steps when the picture you see here presented itself.
Simple. Peaceful. Tranquil. These are qualities the image suggests to me...and everything I’ve read and heard about the Dalai Lama gives me the sense that he is a humble, compassionate man, whose mission is to spread loving kindness among all members of the human family.
“Re-order your habits and attitudes so that you think less about your own narrow concerns and more of others,” he says. “In doing so, you will find that you enjoy peace and happiness yourself.
“Relinquish your envy, let go your desire to triumph over others. Instead, try to benefit them. With kindness, with courage and confident that in doing so you are sure to meet with success, welcome others with a smile. Be straightforward. And try to be impartial. Treat everyone as if they were a close friend. I say this neither as Dalai Lama nor as someone who has special powers or ability. Of these I have none. I speak as a human being, one who like yourself wishes to be happy and not to suffer. If you cannot for whatever reason be of help to others, at least don’t harm them.”
