Dalai Lama Quote of the Week

[starrylizard]

The Dalai Lama Quote of the Week email for this week is beautiful! Just wanted to share. I am not of any religion, but I am in awe of The Dalai Lama as a human being. :)

In day to day life if you lead a good life, honestly, with love, with compassion, with less selfishness, then automatically it will lead to nirvana....We must implement these good teachings in daily life. Whether you believe in God or not does not matter so much; whether you believe in Buddha or not does not matter so much; as a Buddhist, whether you believe in reincarnation or not does not matter so much. You must lead a good life.

And a good life does not mean just good food, good clothes, good shelter. These are not sufficient. A good motivation is what is needed: compassion, without dogmatism, without complicated philosophy; just understanding that others are human brothers and sisters and respecting their rights and human dignity. That we humans can help each other is one of our unique human capacities. We must share in other peoples' suffering; even if you cannot help with money, to show concern, to give moral support and express sympathy are themselves valuable. This is what should be the basis of activities; whether one calls it religion or not does not matter.... In my simple religion, love is the key motivation.(p.20)

--from Kindness, Clarity, and Insight 25th Anniversary Edition by The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, edited and translated by Jeffrey Hopkins, co-edited by Elizabeth Napper, published by Snow Lion Publications

Comments

[charis-kalos.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this. I'm using it in my sermon tomorrow, because the Bible reading is Matthew 25:31-46, in which Jesus says pretty much the same thing.

[starrylizard.livejournal.com]

Timing! Yay! Glad it's useful.

I love all the messages of the various religions. Goodwill, peace, friendship. Sometimes I think people concentrate too much on which religion they're a part of and whether other people believe the same rather than that general shared message. The Dalai Lama has such a lovely simple way of stating these things for me. I know I'll likely never believe in much that I can't reason out with sound logic or scientific process and I've made peace with that, but I do try to be a good person and I think that's the thing that counts most, so this quote made me smile this morning. :)

Edit: What does Jesus say, btw? How does he put it? *curious*

[charis-kalos.livejournal.com]

It comes from the very end of Jesus' life, from some of his last teachings, and it's a fore-telling and a forth-telling of the Last Judgement. Interestingly, this is the only description of the Last Judgement in the Christian Scriptures and people are divided not on the basis of their beliefs or the faith they follow but on whether they care for the poor and marginalised. It's definitely in the language of its time, though, so don't freak out at the mention of "eternal fire" and the "eternal punishment', okay?

'When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” Then he will say to those at his left hand, “You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” Then they also will answer, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?” Then he will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’

[starrylizard.livejournal.com]

Public speaking never changes really. Jesus, politicians... it's all about repetition. That is an interesting reading though. It doesn't mention anything about belief which is where most people put the emphasis these days. It simply says, be a good person, but in a wordy way. I like it. Thanks. :)

[charis-kalos.livejournal.com]

Yes, oral teaching is all about repeating the message until it REALLY sticks in.

I love Matthew 25. To other Christians I describe myself as a 'Matthew 25' person - I care more about whether people look after the little ones of the world than what they believe. And I've got Jesus' support on that!