First published in Column 8 on the 20th May
1992
I was pleased to see hundreds of people packing the Town
Hall to hear the Dalai Lama speak. I was pleased because it meant New
Zealanders haven’t yet lost sight of the fact that we’re not just physical
creatures set in physical bodies living in a physical environment.
The enthusiastic hundreds proclaimed that a desire for
insight into spiritual matters isn’t yet dead in the hearts of New Zealanders,
in spite of what we may be inclined to think when we look each day at the news.
The words that the Dalai Lam was reported as saying mightn’t
immediately appear to have a spiritual ring about them, but to deny their
spiritual content would be foolish. The man is, after all, primarily a
spiritual leader, not a political one.
The Dalai Lama was right to say that compassion is a
necessary basis for world peace. It’s no wonder the audience resoundingly
agreed.
He’s right to say that tolerance and forgiveness for one’s
enemies are also necessary. We love to hear a man say these kinds of things,
because we know there is truth there.
But as the courtroom oath states, we are to speak the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. As much as I’d like, I cannot
accept as the truth his thought that people are naturally gentle. To say such a
thing is to be at odds with the facts surrounding us. And not just the facts
surrounding us, but the true truth that’s within us.
We know in our inner hearts that we’re not naturally gentle,
any more than we’re naturally kind, or generous, or peaceful or tolerant. To
blame the failure of humankind on the military establishment begs the question.
Isn’t the military establishment made up of human beings too?
Yes, we would all love peace on earth. Yes, we would all
love to see human beings living tolerantly, compassionately and unselfishly
with each other. Yes, we know it has to start with us, as individuals. None of
these things are wrong in themselves. But a tree with bad roots won’t ever be a
good tree.
As any of us know when we’re trying to give up some
ingrained habit, it ain’t easy. When we try to be generous and tolerant and
compassionate we succeed in our own strength, for a time. Then along comes some
person who by a piece of quite perverse behaviour wipes away all our generosity
and tolerance and compassion with one swift stroke. And down we fall again.
I agree, we have to start with ourselves. Trying to force
other people to act rightly will never work. But as we all know in our heart of
hearts, there’s a cross-current that sweeps through every good action we try to
do and sucks us under. The good that we want to do, we don’t, and the evil we
don’t want to do, we do.
Who will save us from the perversity that’s in our own
nature? There’s only one person, and it isn’t the Dalai Lama, nor even his
Buddha.
This person, who also preaches tolerance and compassion and
forgiveness of one’s enemies, preaches something more: He insists on telling
people where the real problem lies, that we’re not gentle by nature, but
warped. And because many people won’t listen to His message, they fail to hear
the solution, which is also in Him: Jesus Christ.
I love to ride on the train that puffs out Generosity, and
hoots Tolerance, and whistles Compassion. I can forget my disagreeable nature
and feel good – for a time.
But it still leaves me with a problem: all the positive
noises in the world won’t get us to our destination if the train is going the
wrong way.
 |
| Dalai Lama, 1992, courtesy O Globo |
This column received a number of letters to the Editor.
27.5.92
Regarding Column Eight by Mike Crowl (Wednesday, May 20),
Mike Crowl, it seems, didn’t clearly understand the message the Dalai Lama was
offering. The Dalai Lama says people are gentle by nature. He means exactly
this, and is not at odds with the facts surround us. we are all born without
any predisposition to violence, cruelty, etc, we learn all of these things from
our environment. Mr Crowl writes that in his inner heart he knows he is not
gentle. I suggest that he has to look deeper, exactly the Dalai Lam’s message.
By finding compassion for others within ourselves we are attaining the highest
spiritual goals, and it is there within reach of us. The teachings of the Dalai
Lama parallel that of Jesus Christ. They are both on the same train, heading
for the same destination.
J. Watson.
We thought Mike Crowl’s dismissal of the Dalai Lama’s
teachings as misguided and inadequate (Midweek, May 20) was disappointing and
ungenerous. The Dalai Lama’s message of compassion, toleration and forgiveness
is not very different from the biblical injunction to ‘love thy enemies.’ What
is particularly significant is that he and his followers, who of all the people
in the world have cause to hate, put their own beliefs into practice and
steadfastly refuse to translate their own brutally enforced exile from their
own country into hatred and violence. They work patiently for the day when
their land will be restored to them. If followed more widely, the Dalai Lama’s
example could transform our world. It deserves both our praise and our
emulation.
Tim Jones and Barbara Frame – Peace Action Dunedin.
31.5.92
We would like to congratulate Mike Crowl on the very good
column in each Star Midweek. We read with interest his comments and it
is very pleasing to have someone standing for Christian values on a regular
basis.
Lance and Lois Woodfield.
Letters must have continued into the next two issues on the 3rd and 10th June, but I don’t appear to have these.
17.6.92
In a letter in the Weekender (7/6/92) a correspondent
under the cover-name ‘Truth’ criticizes the religion of Buddhism with a quote
from The
Road to Mandalay. It is just a hundred years since Kipling’s
poem was published in Barrack-room Ballads. It still makes a stirring
song. But the British soldier is interested only in memories of the Burma girl
and the flying fishes. For any understanding of Buddhism he gets no marks at
all. the last thing that the Buddha would have wanted was to be called ‘the
Great Gawd Budd;’ he was a teacher of his way of enlightenment and compassion.
Images of the Buddha are reminders of this and to call them ‘idols’ is just to
repeat and old soldier’s ignorant dismissal. The Dalai Lama represents the
Tibetan form of Buddhism. All are free to agree or disagree with this teaching,
as with any religion in our world. But the first requirement surely should be
to listen first, in order to get the picture right without misrepresentation or
prejudice. Some of the Dalai Lama’s compassion and warm humanity might help us
on the way.
I agree with your correspondents (7/6/92) regarding the
greatness of the Dalai Lama but I cannot sit by any longer without comment when
they (and others) promote the cults of personality and belief in the name of
truth. Listen. There is only one way to God and that is to love God. Jesus
Christ certainly recommended it. Loving God has nothing to do with childish
cults of dependency created by short-sighted people misinterpreting the
teachings of enlightened beings such as Jesus Christ, Krishna, Buddha or Mohammed.
Such cults are divisive and lead to bigotry, racial and cultural intolerance
and unhappiness. Of course loving God includes loving your neighbour.
G.F.G
The Dalai Lama’s visit to Dunedin seems to have unleased a
tremendous response via the very worthwhile platform provide by ‘Mailbag.’ From
the torrent of Christian drivel (apparently based on the writings found in old
books) to the karmic blatherings of some would-be Buddhists, devout atheists
such as myself are enjoying a smorgasbord of entertainment. See you in hell!
Lucifer
The only conclusion one can draw from the correspondents’
recent letters is that New Zealand is still a Christian country, because the
population is not tolerant to those having a religion other than Christianity.
What we can learn from the Dalai Lama is that when the Chinese invaded Tibet,
all they did was take that country’s political freedom. Although Tibetans have
no freedom of politics, they do have a freedom of religion in that they are not
involved with Christianity. The Dalai Lama has made Buddhism easier to follow
than Jesus who made it impossible to be a good Christian (Matthew 7, v 13-14).
Although New Zealanders are free to choose any political party, they do not
take advantage of religious freedom which is enjoyed in many countries.
C.J.
I am saddened by the majority of the correspondence about
the Dalai Lama’s message which is treating Buddhism and Christianity as rivals.
Surely religions are not sports teams. This area of life is more important than
winning an argument by defeating a rival with quotes from ‘authorities,’ or
simply saying ours is the best way therefore we can’t learn from others. At the
Dalai Lama’s morning talk I noted he did not indulge in negative comparisons.
Instead he described the essential features of the major religions, with
reference to what they had in common and where they differed, and then he went
on to describe the Buddhist path without putting down other religions. The view
of Mike Crowl, and his supporters, is based on the doctrine of original sin.
His is an interpretation of the Bible which I see as a major reason for many
people rejecting this type of Christianity as it engenders much guilt and
anxiety in people brought up with this view of humanity. Just [as] the
fatalistic interpretation of the karma conception in Buddhism can be seen as a
misunderstanding, the doctrine of original sin is also a source of
misunderstanding in Christianity. No religion is free of abuses or
misunderstandings perpetuated by people who claim to be its adherents. A ‘we
are right, they are wrong’ attitude increases the likelihood of this. There is
a lot of wisdom in the Bible, especially in the sayings of Jesus Christ. Is he
not the one who preached love and forgiveness, and said, ‘Judge not lest you be
judged?’ See
Matthew 7:1-5. I look forward to the day when all people can respect our
common spirituality, as it is expressed in most religions, and learn by sharing
the wisdom and insights from these sources.
Eli Kerin
For those of us who were fortunate enough to hear and see
him, the visit of the Dalai Lama was a real event. His humility, humanity and
courageous witness to non-violence lifted the spirit. His infectious humour was
a delight. It is sad therefore, that there have been some rather extraordinary
negative reactions to his coming. One hopes that they do not dismay those who
organised his visit with such exemplary courtesy, and that they are not taken
to be in any way representative of the wider Christian community. Let us hope
rather that this visit will provide a catalyst for an informed and
self-critical dialogue between Christian and Buddhists. One suspects that this
is what the majority of the Dunedin community would like to see, too.
In the latest Listener, A K Grant mentions that the
Dalai Lama wrote a poem praising ‘gentle’ Chairman Mao, one of the most evil,
bloodthirsty, tyrants of all time. Since the Dalai Lama was part of Tibet’s
dictatorship of Buddhist monks, it is yet more proof that he is a cunning
politician now doing a hypocritical ‘human rights’ U-turn to curry favour with
other politicians. Jesus Christ warned: ‘By their fruits you shall know them.’
The fruits of Buddhism are poverty, disease, child brothels, absence of women’s
rights etc – quite unlike NZ. A letter, June 10, implies that a person born
blind must be extremely evil, and richly deserving to suffer. Jesus Christ was
asked if a man born blind had sinned, or his parents had sinned to cause the
blindness. He emphatically said no (John 9). Since karma victimises the less
well off, they can expect no help. The rich and healthy were so good in a past
life, they must be super spiritual. Rather like the Dalai Lama’s beloved Mao,
no doubt. The writer seems to be anti-abortion although many karmic believers
may disagree on that. It seems that one can decide what is sin and what is not
so how can anyone know if they are near to being perfect after all these
fictional lives they cannot remember? Most people should be perfect by no –
crime, wars, greed etc prove the opposite. Why be punished for a past life
which is unknown? Where do all the extra souls come from as world population
explodes. They obviously are not evolving to perfection. Are they rats, snakes
and sacred cows from past lives? They certainly get treated better than people
in the karma-believing countries. The utter absurdity and destructiveness of
karmic beliefs is still self-evident and always will be.
Realist.
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