DHARAMSHALA: His Holiness the Dalai Lama today began a three-day teaching on Shantideva’s A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life (chodjug) at the Thekchen Choeling Tsuglakhang. The teaching is organised at the request of a group of devotees from south-east Asia.
Over 5000 devotees including 700 from south-east Asian countries like Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia are attending the teaching. Over 1000 devotees from 62 other countries are also in attendance.
Addressing the devotees before conducting the teachings, His Holiness the Dalai Lama underlined the importance of oneness of humanity. He emphasised that we should focus on the equivalence of one another rather than highlight the differences. He said: “I am just one person among the seven billion human beings in the world. Human beings are social animals. We are dependent on each other for our survival. Even for our daily livelihoods, we are dependent on others. However strong, intelligent or wealthy a person is, it is not possible to survive solely on his own. The economic stability of the whole world is inter-connected, particularly in this day and age. When one country is in crisis, the effects of that crisis can be felt in other places as well. Therefore, we should think of the world as one and move forward together.”
Speaking on the disastrous impacts of environmental destruction, His Holiness the Dalai Lama said that the world is facing serious implications of natural disasters due to global warming. “The destructions caused by natural calamities are being faced by the whole world. Nature doesn’t divide us on the lines of religion or whether we are believers or non-believers. Therefore, we should think of each other and be unified in our approach,” His Holiness said.
“A major part of the problems we are facing today in this world are man-made. Therefore, man-made problems should be solved by man themselves. Particularly, in the 20th century and the beginning of this century, there was a lot of war and bloodshed. These problems were created by man. It would not be correct to say that man created these problems intentionally, because most of these problems were a result of differences in opinion and clash of cultures. However, we could avert such problems in the future if we just adopt a holistic attitude and accommodate other’s well-being along with our desire for personal happiness,” His Holiness added.
His Holiness concluded that under prevailing world circumstances, the Buddha’s teaching particularly that which focusses on inter-dependence is extremely relevant. “When we were born, we were all equals. There were no friends nor enemies. The notion of enemies are all creations of our attitude,” His Holiness explained, adding that, the essence of all religions in the world are love and compassion towards one another.
The three-day teaching will conclude on 26 September.
