While we were in McLeod Ganj a few weeks ago, Vanessa and I were often asked if we wanted to see the Dalai Lama. My reaction was often similar; it would be nice, but I wouldn’t go out of my way. It turned out that while we in McLeod Ganj, the Dalai Lama was off in Germany. We did find out that while we would be in Leh, the Dalai Lama was planning a two week trip to Ladakh, which included three days of teachings at his complex in Choglamsar, just outside Leh.
Getting to the complex involved an early morning wake up and a quick breakfast, before we got into the shared taxi. At first, our driver raced through Changspa and central Leh. But then as he began to reach the edge of town, the traffic jam appeared. Police offers were funneling four lanes of traffic into one. Our driver seemed unable to find any of the moving lanes, and we even bumped into the car in front of us. Fortunately, we all seemed to be in good spirits, despite thinking we would be late to the teachings. We eventually reached the complex, where we were thoroughly searched. As the attendant searched my bag, he seemed particularly amused that I was carrying my own set of bamboo eating utensils, including chopsticks. We finally found a place to sit in the foreigners’ area that was close to the stage and near the speaker broadcasting the English translation. Despite the traffic and the searches, we still managed to arrive before the Dalai Lama began.
Within a few moments, the Dalai Lama arrived in his SUV. It’s not quite the Pope-mobile, but he does have a nice yellow seat cover on his seat. The Dalai Lama walked through the crowd and took his seat on the stage. He began by greeting the crowd with his hands clasped in prayer before his face. He also asked the crowd to raise their hands if they could understand his “Central Tibetan dialect.” It seemed that most people could.
The teachings followed a standard format. One of the local monks would read a verse from one of the sutras about the teachings of the bodhisattvas, and the Dalai Lama would discuss the verse. He began with a long analogy about how the teachings of the Buddha were like medicine. They not only cure the symptoms of illnesses in this world in the cycle of samsara, but they ultimately can cure cure people as well and help them to awaken “Buddhahood.”
The first teachings focused on the importance of “love and compassion.” The Dalai Lama stressed how these feelings were important in both the beginning of understanding Buddhism and in the “middle and end.” He explained how love and compassion were essential to our being humans, since we are “social animals.” He stressed that love and compassion come easily in how we treat family and even pets, but that we also need to practice love and compassion with our enemies. Given the interdependence of human society, and how much we rely on others for our food, shelter, and clothing, it is essential to treat others with love and compassion. Even things like friendship or fame depend on others, so love and compassion is always important. He repeatedly emphasized how love and compassion are virtues that we need to cultivate both if we want to attain buddhahood or if we simply want happiness within the cycle of samsara. As the Dalai Lama explained these ideas, local Ladakhi women dressed in traditional clothing began to serve butter tea to the crowd. As the sun grew intense, here were women practicing the very compassion of the Buddha.
The Dalai Lama then explained how the Buddha does not fault evil people themselves. Instead of blaming the actor, the Buddha faults the emotions that cause someone to do something evil. In this way, there are no innately evil people, there are simply people who have yet to find the effort to cultivate love and compassion.
To begin cultivating love and compassion, the Dalai Lama gradually transitioned his teachings to how we apply effort in the cultivation of virtues, such as love and compassion. He discussed the different ways in which we can apply effort to how we live and the focus in which we use to think about the teachings and applying them. He emphasized that the effort should be “joyous,” and that we should gradually expand our resolve to apply the effort at all times in our lives. In thinking about the teachings, the Dalai Lama explained that it’s not simply having a sharp, analytical mind, but that people should have a “focused” mind. We need to be “calm abiding.” In that way, we can best think about and apply the teachings to our whole lives. He then discussed some specific strategies in how we can train the mind to be more focused by finding specific objects and virtues to think about. As he reached the end of the day’s teachings, he reminded people that they shouldn’t just trust him because he’s “some Lama,” but that they should think about the wisdom of the teachings themselves. He also stressed that it’s not enough to simply to know these teachings, but that we have to make them part of our own experiences on a daily basis.
For me, it seemed like the hardest challenge. It’s always easier to know what is the right thing to do, the difficulty is finding how we implement love and compassion for all on a daily basis. How do we find the focus that allows us to live our lives in the way that we know is best?
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