We live in such an amazingly opportune time, but most of us don’t even see the magic of our era. Kings and queens of times past couldn’t dream of having amenities that we regularly take for granted. We don’t think twice about how lucky we are to have access to air conditioning, heat, bathrooms, nourishing foods, and knowledge. We live in a time where we have the freedom of speech and unlimited information available to us, and we are also blessed to have access to the teachings of thousands of years old spiritual traditions. Why shouldn’t we explore the limitless potential of our time and resources available to us, instead of wasting our limited time on mind-numbing activities?
We are extremely lucky to to be able to learn from the presence of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. H.H. is the political leader of Tibet and the head of the Tibetan Buddhist religion. He has lived in exile in India due to the unjust, violent Chinese conflict and occupation that has occurred in Tibet over the last 70 years. He has trained as a monk since age 6 and continuously works toward achieving world peace, spreading the principles of compassion and nonviolence throughout the world. H.H. won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for his plan to restore peace and human rights to his home country, recommending that Tibet be turned into an ecologically stable and demilitarized zone that could serve as a buffer between major Asian powers. Unfortunately, his plan was later rejected by the oppressive Chinese government.
H.H. is currently 85, yet he selflessly teaches and dedicates himself to being the ultimate propagator of peace with every thought, word, and action every single day. This is what we should all strive towards. He helps us to understand that Buddhism isn’t just a religion, it’s more of a scientific approach to life. Buddhism teaches that all of our thoughts, words, and actions have an impact and create more of themselves ~ just like the scientific principle of cause and effect. The Buddha himself stated 3000 years ago that you should not follow his teachings in blind faith, but you should question and test his ideas to see if they hold true. This is the type of logical thinking that the world really needs.
We should question everything without closing our minds to the infinite possibilities and potential of the universe, as scientists of life. We should ask ourselves what we would like to focus on and therefore see more of in the world, and how we can go about cultivating forgiveness and empathy for others in order to stop the cycle of violence. We have a world-culture that is focused too much on mindlessness over mindfulness, and self indulgence over selflessness. Our habitual self-centeredness creates destruction and negative emotions. It has gotten to the point where we have been destroying the planet which we need to survive as a species, as well as our own wellbeing and the future safety of our children. Buddhist psychology helps us to realize the effects of our actions, their impact, and how we can uplift and assist all beings with acts of loving kindness and compassion. Because we are all one, and come from the same source, we logically should want all others to heal just as we would like to experience healing in our own lives.
It is our mission to see things clearly and become beacons of light for our world.
Propagate Peace 