Virtual Talk Series on His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Four Principal Commitments: English Panel Four
The virtual talk series on His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s four principal commitments is an initiative by the Department of Information and International Relations as part of the celebration of the year 2020 as the ‘Year of Gratitude to His Holiness the Dalai Lama’ by the Central Tibetan Administration.
This panel features a talk in English by four speakers; Lhamo, Tibetan Buddhist Nun, Janchup Choeling Nunnery, Guy Lieberman, Social Activist and Facilitator of Meetings between His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela in 1996 and 2004, South Africa, Geshe Namdak, Resident Teacher at Jamyang Buddhist Centre, London and Sharon Salzberg, Meditation Pioneer, Author, Teacher and Industry Leader.
Posted by TIBET TV on Thursday, 10 December 2020
Dharamshala: The sixth day of the week-long talk series highlighted some important aspects of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s core commitments. Lhamo, a Tibetan Buddhist nun at Janchup Choeling Nunnery talked about the three aspects of ethics and how to cultivate these aspects into the practice of daily lives.
She explained that His Holiness perspective to promoting human values is essentially finding a way for spirituality and ethics that is dissociated from religion.
“Cultivating ethics and practicing them in our daily lives is practically promoting human values”, Lhamo said and went on to stress that ethics is simply not a matter of knowing but of doing as emphasised by His Holiness.
She illustrated the three aspects of ethics classified by His Holiness to understand what ethics really is. The three aspects of ethics are ethics of restraint, ethics of virtue, and ethics of altruism. Each of these involves three levels and each level more progressively advanced.
Many of the disasters and crises in the world are man-made, she said, is attributed to the faults of three forces-body, speech, and mind. So in order to alleviate the problems of the world, she advised guarding these forces carefully. The practice of guarding the three forces is known as ethics of restraint, said Lhamo and added that the success of the other two ethics is heavily dependent on the advancement of the first ethic.
She further described the steps involved where a person can achieve the three ethics, “once a person has mastered the ethics of restraint, he/she is required to cultivate more positive actions of the inner values to achieve the second level of ethics i.e ethic of virtue and once this ethic is mastered the person has the ability to not only control the body, speech, and mind but dedicate them in the service of other’s well being and that is when the person is known to have achieved the ethic of altruism. Ethics of altruism is the highest form of practice of ethics”.
This second point Lhamo highlighted in her explanation of ethics was whether the force of mind needs to be guarded as done with the other two forces. In her argument, Lhamo asserted that while it is beneficial to guard the force of mind, however, a person is not obligated to do so unless the person really wants to alleviate the root cause of harmful actions but guarding the force of mind against negative thought and actions bring more positivity in lives.
Social activist Guy Lieberman who is also the facilitator of meetings between His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela in 1996 and 2004 spoke on the importance of His Holiness’s second commitment- religious harmony – through his experience of close association with His Holiness.
Lieberman called those days of working as a facilitator ‘extraordinary and memorable’ as he expressed his deep appreciation for the Tibetan culture and the Tibetan freedom movement.
“Since then, I have been involved in some level or another with His Holiness’s relationship with South Africa where I had the opportunity to witness His Holiness’s views and expression regarding religious harmony,” Lieberman said as he went on to share stories of his experience. He asserted that harmony in general for His Holiness is not limited to the aspect of religions as His Holiness has explored harmony with secular society, science, governance, and multiple others. His Holiness has forged harmony in everything that he sees and it is the foundation of all his activities.
Through his experience with His Holiness in South Africa, Lieberman conveyed that His Holiness exhibits broad-mindedness and curiosity when approaching other religions.
“He is fearless and has a wonderful thirst for knowledge and extraordinary openness”, said Lieberman while pointing out some of the great qualities of His Holiness and added that he is not one to be swayed by the devotion of those around him.
Lieberman further talked about how he was fascinated by His Holiness engagements with religious leaders and the advice he gave on the common responsibility of the religious leaders that is to alleviate suffering and resolve conflict. For religious harmony to take effect, His Holiness suggests the religious leaders and figures reflect on their behaviors first before engaging with the issues of conflict. His Holiness regards action above prayers and elaborate rituals. He emphasises and promote universal responsibility and brings pragmatism in the conversation on religion to advocate religious harmony.
Geshe Namdak, a teacher at Jamyang Buddhist Centre in London also spoke on the promotion of religious harmony. He said that western countries need to make more effort in the promotion of religious harmony by having more inter-faith dialogues.
He highlighted the need for religious harmony so as to accommodate people of all faith and noted that all religions exhibit a common goal of wanting happiness. He said one form of faith cannot be defined as completely suitable because people have different mental dispositions. And so diversity of religions, he noted, is beneficial only if these religions learn to coexist amicably.
Sharon Salzberg, meditation pioneer, and industry leader underlined the implications associated with happiness. In her defense of the meaning of happiness, she said that happiness need not be superficial nor should it be the denial of pain. Happiness, she described is the inner resource that navigates the stress dynamics.
“One learns from their own experience and those of others that they are not alone in their fight against stress and depression. Once the person learns that he/she is not isolated in his/her adversity and misery, they will have more love and compassion to offer and they will approach the challenges in a different light”, says Sharon Salzberg.
While inner resources are so valuable for happiness, Sharon admits that having a sense of spaciousness and peace are equally important.
“In order to get through a difficult time, one needs to have genuine rest along with resilience,” she said and added that rest here does not refer to laziness and sluggishness.
She further advises mindful breathing without allowing the mind to wander so as to achieve the wholeness of one’s being.