Teachings On Buddhism from His Holiness The Dalai Lama

Tenzin Gyatso is His Holiness the Dalai Lama

His Holiness the Dalai Lama is the head of the Galugpa order of Buddhism which is one of 4 lineages in Tibetan Buddhism. The others are Kagyu, Sakya, Ningyma, and some people include Bonpo.

Dalai Lama is the leader of Tibetan Buddhism. He is believed to be the incarnation of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara or Chenrezig, the Boddhisatva of Compassion. A Boddhisatva is someone who chooses to come back to Samsara in order to benefit sentient beings, rather than go to Nirvana.

July 6th Is the birthdate of His Holiness. Please offer the following long life prayer:

Tibetan:

Gang Ri Ra Wey Kor Wey Shing Kham Dhir
Phen Dang Dey Wa Ma Lu Jung Wey Nay
Chenrezig Wang Tenzin Gyatso Yi
Shab Pey Si Tey Par Du Ten Gyur Chig

English translation:

In the heavenly rhelm of Tibet, surrounded by a chain of snow mountains
The source of all happiness and help for beings is
Tenzin Gyatso, Chenrezig in person
May his life be secure for hundreds of Kalpas

To you and me, it seems unbelievable that anyone could be punished, and punished severely, simply for voicing support for the Dalai Lama-the protector and leader of the Tibetan people.

Yet the Chinese government regularly and determinedly punishes Tibetans-especially nuns and monks-who show devotion to the Dalai Lama and exercise their faith. And they'll kidnap a six-year-old boy to wrestle religious authority from those in whom it is vested. That six year old was the Panchen Lama and he was abducted by the Chinese 14 years ago and no one knows if he and his family are alive or dead now.

After the young Karmapa escaped from China, I started a website on Buddhism. To read all about what the future holds for Buddhism have a look and also you can see pictures of the Great Stupa of Dharmakaya on my site.Also to keep up on what's going on in the world of Buddhism, essential oils, and feng shui please visit my blog.

To receive a monthly ezine titled the Peace and Loving Kindness News, please send me an email at rdtibet@yahoo.com

Here's some wisdom from His Holiness:

"Whether one believes in a religion or not, and whether one believes in rebirth or not, there isn't anyone who doesn't appreciate kindness and compassion."
- Dalai Lama

How I was first introduced to HHDL

I was rather "drop kicked" into dharma and Buddhism. First I took a few meditation lessons from a man named Gregory Long. Then I read some books mostly by Pema Chodron and Tsultrim Allione. Then a friend of mine committed suicide. At that time I was practicing Native American things and I went to a sweatlodge to pray for my friend. Well in that particular lodge was a woman whose sister has also committed suicide recently. Well we got to talking after the lodge about the Shambala Center in Red Feathers Lakes, Colorado. It was still under construction at the time. We decided to go there and volunteer our time. Well I expected to paint the building or hammer nails, but our job was to paint saffron on prayers and say the Vajrasattva mantra. We did this for about 10 hours. Well the Kalachakra mandala was being painted on the ceiling above the Buddha on the main floor of the stupa. The Great Stupa of Dharmakaya is known for "awakening upon seeing" - well it seemed to do just that in my case. Within 2 weeks after this volunteer adventure I was in Los Angeles studying the Lam Rim with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. What a wonderfilled experience. A few years later I also took the Kalachakra empowerment from HHDL in Toronto, Canada. This man has changed my life for the better in so many ways!

I most recently studied with His Holiness in Long Beach, California where I received the Amithaba and the Medicine Buddha empowerments in September, 2009.

The Dalai Lama Heart of Wisdom 2010 Calendar

The Dalai Lama:
Heart of Wisdom 2010 Wall Calendar

His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, is one of the most respected spiritual leaders and teachers living in the world today. He is revered by Buddhists as the living god of love and compassion, and yet he refers to himself as a simple monk. His gentle, humorous expression of wisdom and compassion serves as an inspiration to millions. The Dalai Lama, Heart of Wisdom 2010 wall calendar features twelve photographs from Alison Wright, who has spent a lifetime traveling the world in an attempt to capture the universal human spirit through her images of endangered cultures and documenting issues concerning the human condition. Wright's photographs have been published in worldwide periodicals and books.

The following are excerpt from His Holiness's writing

THE BENEFITS OF COMPASSION

In recent years there have been many studies that support the idea that developing compassion and altruism has a positive impact on our physical and emotional health. In one well-known experiment, for example, David McClelland, a psychologist at Harvard University, showed a group of students a film of Mother Teresa working among Calcutta's sick and poor. The students reported that the film stimulated feelings of compassion. Afterward, he analyzed the students' saliva and found an increase in immunoglobulin-A, an antibody that can help fight respiratory infections. In another study done by James House at the University of Michigan Research Center, investigators found that doing regular volunteer work, interacting with others in a warm and compassionate way, dramatically increased life expectancy, and probably overall vitality as well.

To read more get a copy of The Art of Happiness

The following is another excerpt:

The environment where you are doing the meditation
should be properly cleaned. While cleaning, you should cultivate the motivation that since you are engaged in the task of accumulating great stores of merit by inviting the hosts of buddhas and bodhisattvas to this environment, it is important to have a clean place. You should see that all the external dirt and dust around you is basically a manifestation of the faults and stains within your own mind. You should see that the most important aim is to purge these stains and faults from within your mind. Therefore, as you cleanse the environment, think that you are also purifying your mind. Develop the very strong thought that by cleaning this place you are inviting the host of buddhas and bodhisattvas who are the most supreme merit field, and that you will subsequently engage in a path that will enable you to purge your mind of the stains of delusions.

--from Path to Bliss: A Practical Guide to Stages of
Meditation by H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso

Order a copy of Path to Bliss

Please share your own experiences with His Holiness with us either here (see Guestbook) or through my other blog.

Newly Released Book by Robert Thurman

Why The Dalai Lama Matters Book Here is a quote from Thurman's book:

"Imagine how it would be in environmentalism, tolerance, respect for diversity, generosity, and gentleness were taught every day to every child, in every home and place of worship. Imagine if we had a model of how to resolve conflict--personal or national--through respectful dialogue and peaceful coexistence. Imagine if these teachings were made widely available on television and the Internet, plentiful for all traditions. Imagine if people were thus taught widely and open-mindedly about the commonalities between their faiths and those of others, becoming immunized against religious prejudice and hatred.

Imagine these things happening worldwide and you are seeing the world the Dalai Lama leads us toward. To empower him here, to make his act of truth inspire more widely, the world needs his country and his people to be free. Not necessarily independent from China, but free to enjoy and preserve and develop their beautiful Tibetan culture, within their traditional homeland, and to share it openly with the world."

Purchase an Amazon gift card here.

A Dalai Lama Quote Holds Wisdom For Our Times

"I pray for all of us, oppressor and friend, that together we may succeed in building a better world through human understanding and love, and that in doing so we may reduce the pain and suffering of all sentient beings."

- from His Holiness' Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech, Oslo, December 1989

And here's another quote:

"In Tibet we say that many illnesses can be cured by the medicine of love and compassion." HHDL

Check out the Dalai Lama's Losar (Tibetan New Year) Message February 2009. Simply click.

"Life is impermanent, like the setting sun,
Wealth is like dew on the morning grass,
Praise is like wind in a mountain pass,
A youthful body is an autumn flower.
Help me to understand the shortcomings
Of constantly turning on the wheel of becoming
And to fix the depths of my mindstream
On the path leading to ultimate knowledge."
-- The Seventh Dalai Lama

Consciousness at the Crossroads by His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Consciousness at the Crossroads:
Conversations with the Dalai Lama on Brainscience and Buddhism

Here's a quote by HHDL from this book:

I always believe that each individual human being has some kind of responsibility for humanity as a whole. Particularly, I always believe that as scientists, you have a special responsibility. Besides your own profession, you have a basic motivation to serve humanity, to try to produce better, happier human beings. Whether we understand consciousness or not, we must produce warm-hearted persons. That is important. I want to express that. Whenever I meet scientists, I always have to say this.

Mind and Life Blog

Over the next five days, for five and a half hours a day, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and 10 scientists, philosophers, scholars and contemplatives from North America, Europe and India will sit together in an intimate dialogue entitled: Mind and Life XVIII: Attention, Memory and Mind: A Synergy of Psychological, Neuroscientific, and Contemplative Perspectives.

Mind and Life staff members are blogging from the event. Please visit the blog regularly for updates as it unfolds this week: www.mindandlife.org/blog. You are welcome to post comments, share the blog with others, sign up for RSS feeds which will alert you to new blog updates, and create a link from your web site to the blog.

This historic meeting is the 18th in a series of international science dialogues that have been organized by the Mind and Life Institute, www.mindandlife.org, which was co-founded by the Dalai Lama in 1987. From very modest beginnings, the Mind and Life Institute has become a world leading organization, stimulating the scientific research on the effects of meditation and contemplative practice on the mind and brain and in the prevention and treatment of disease. These dialogues have also contributed toward a deep engagement between modern science and the world's living contemplative traditions, especially Buddhism.

Future Mind and Life dialogues are planned for Washington DC in October, 2009. Please visit the event web site at www.EducatingWorldCitizens.org; Zurich, Switzerland in April 2010 and New Delhi in November 2010.

We are happy to invite you to join the Dalai Lama and world renowned educators, scientists and contemplatives for an incredible two day dialogue: Mind and Life XIX: Educating World Citizens for the 21st Century. Registrations are now open. Please visit www.EducatingWorldCitizens.org for full program details and to register for this important dialogue.

His Holiness's Book An Open Heart

An Open Heart:
Practicing Compassion in Everyday Life

Compassion and Wisdom and the two wings of the Garuda. Learn about Compassion from this very wise leader.

Purchase an Amazon gift card here.

The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama

by: Pico Iyer

The Open Road:
The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama

This is a brilliant pairing of writer and subject. Iyer has known the Dalai Lama, spiritual and political leader of Tibet, for more than 30 years, thanks to a long-ago connection between the writer's father, an Oxford don born in India, and a young Dalai Lama. And so the acute global observer Iyer, a travel writer, essayist and novelist, has long followed the fortunes of the astute globalist Tibetan Buddhist, who travels the world but can never go home to his Chinese-occupied country. This is not a biography but an extended journalistic analysis of someone deep enough for several lifetimes, as Tibetan Buddhists believe. Iyer organizes his observations by smart descriptions of aspects of the Dalai Lama's work and character.

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Discover how to look 30 years younger in just 10 minutes a day! The Five Rituals are simple.They're a series of five simple movements that can be practiced in just 10 minutes a day.They involve simple, yet precise movements that virtually anyone can perform - whether you're 30, 50, or 100.

TheCommunity.com has been working on projects with the Nobel Peace Prize winners for more than eight years and we have a strong network of alliances supporting these invaluable peacemakers. We know that right now, what happens next with Tibet is critical for the human rights arena. It's a moment for pooling resources and making our voices heard.

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Essence of the Heart Sutra

Essence of the Heart Sutra:
The Dalai Lama's Heart of Wisdom Teachings

According to Buddhism, compassion is an aspiration, a state of mind, wanting others to be free from suffering. It's not passive--it's not empathy alone--but rather an empathetic altruism that actively strives to free others from suffering. Genuine compassion must have both wisdom and lovingkindness. That is to say, one must understand the nature of the suffering from which we wish to free others (this is wisdom), and one must experience deep intimacy and empathy with other sentient beings (this is lovingkindness). Let's examine these two elements.

The suffering from which we wish to liberate other sentient beings, according to Buddha's teachings, has three levels. The first level includes the obvious physical and mental sensations of pain and discomfort that we can all easily identify as suffering. This kind of suffering is primarily at the sensory level--unpleasant or painful sensations and feelings. The great Tibetan master Panchen Losang Chokyi Gyaltsan, tutor to the fifth Dalai Lama, reminds us that even animals seek to avoid physical suffering and pain.

The second level of suffering is the suffering of change. Although certain experiences or sensations may seem pleasurable and desirable now, inherent within them is the potential for culminating in an unsatisfactory experience. Another way of saying this is that experiences do not last forever; desirable experiences will eventually be replaced by a neutral experience or an undesirable experience. If it were not the case that desirable experiences are of the nature of change, then, once having a happy experience, we would remain happy forever! In fact, if desirability were intrinsic to an experience, then the longer we remained in contact with it, the happier we would become. However, this is not the case. In fact, often, the more we pursue these experiences, the greater our level of disillusionment, dissatisfaction, and unhappiness becomes.

...But the third level of suffering is the most significant--the pervasive suffering of conditioning. This refers to the very fact of our unenlightened existence, the fact that we are ruled by negative emotions and their underlying root cause, namely our own fundamental ignorance of the nature of reality. Buddhism asserts that as long as we are under the control of this fundamental ignorance, we are suffering; this unenlightened existence is suffering by its very nature.

If we are to cultivate the deepest wisdom, we must understand suffering at its deepest, most pervasive level. In turn, freedom from that level of suffering is true nirvana, true liberation, the true state of cessation. Freedom from the first level of suffering alone--merely being free of unpleasant physical and psychological experiences--is not true cessation of suffering. Freedom from the second level is again not true cessation. However, freedom from the third level of suffering--being completely free from the very source of suffering--that is genuine cessation, genuine liberation.

--from Essence of the Heart Sutra: The Dalai Lama's Heart of Wisdom Teachings by H.H. the Dalai Lama

Dalai Lama Renaissance Is a Great Documentary

This one is a must see - and well worth owning and showing to friends. I was blessed to see it when it came to Denver for four days. Believe me you will love it.

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Highway to Lhasa

It is our sincere hope that the rest of the world will awaken to the human tragedy in Tibet as a matter of "justice and morality," which is how it was described by H H Dalai Lama in Boston recently. Toward that end, please consider sharing Highway To Lhasa with friends and supporters.

Thank you.

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Who is Teachings On Buddhism from His Holiness The Dalai Lama

Tenzin Gyatso is His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Contents at a Glance

Contents at a Glance

How I was first introduced to HHDL

The Dalai Lama Heart of Wisdom 2010 Calendar

The following are excerpt from His Holiness's writing

A Dalai Lama Quote Holds Wisdom For Our Times

Consciousness at the Crossroads by His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Mind and Life Blog

His Holiness's Book An Open Heart

The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama

by: Pico Iyer

Subscribe to the Peace and Loving Kindness News

Quick, what do you think of His Holiness The Dalai Lama?

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Essence of the Heart Sutra

Dalai Lama Renaissance Is a Great Documentary

Get a Buddhist Antique for Your Collection

Highway to Lhasa

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