The Dalai Lama should certainly be included in any international register of the ten most influential living people in the world, much more so than many heads of state. In addition to each of the many honors he has received, he has personally met, impressed, and touched the heart of kings and queens, prime ministers,… Read more »
Every March 10th, from 1961 until 2011, in commemoration of the greatest uprising of the Tibetan people against the Chinese military occupation, the Dalai Lama delivered an appeal to the world on behalf of his people. Each statement is a heartfelt call to recognize the truth and the factual reality of Tibet’s history and situation;… Read more »
The story of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, the world’s foremost proponent of peace and nonviolence, as depicted in this full-color graphic novel, tells in its second and third parts of his educational training in childhood to ascend to the height of Buddhist learning and the political leadership of Tibet. He attains maturity and bodhisattvic power just… Read more »
For those of you who are able and willing to help financially Tibet House US has compiled a list of links to effective and reliable relief efforts that stand in need of funds to address the situation on the ground there in Nepal: Save The Children’s Nepal Earthquake Children’s Relief Fund will help the organization… Read more »
First, Tsongkhapa’s Essence of True Eloquence is a work of “philosophy,” and hence a communication to “philosophers” in the true sense of the title, as “lovers of wisdom, whose wisdom is their love .” But where are today’s philosophers to be found? Too many have almost forgotten that Science and Technology are mere children, that… Read more »
Around four hundred years after the Buddha had left his body, the Sangha institution had produced many, many free people. And these free people, in a social feedback loop, had begun to make possible more freedom for the laypeople as well as the monastics. So, the Sangha institution could intervene more actively in society, in… Read more »
In most levels of Buddhism the authority and projection level of the mentor or teacher is de-emphasized because the burden is on the students to find things out for themselves, so the basic model of the spiritual teacher is that of a virtuous friend or auspicious friend, one who brings you good luck, and by… Read more »
The bottom line is that you can take responsibility for how you occupy your mind. You can convert negativity into positivity in your life by opening yourself up to the ancient and well-proven philosophies available from the teachers of liberation who have flourished in history. You can study their teachings, not only as a spiritual… Read more »
The monastic social movement that emerged from the Axial Age in India swept throughout Asia, transforming the landscapes, the cultures, and the politics of all its nations, as well as countless individuals. It is quite likely that it influenced even West Asia, North Africa, and Europe by lending its institutional style to Aramaic and Egyptian… Read more »
Years ago my original teacher, the Venerable Geshe Ngawang Wangyal of the Labsum Shedrub Monastery, gave me a copy of a Tibetan volume printed in India, entitled The Tibetan Book of the Dead. He had a way of saying certain things so that you remembered them long afterward, giving them a special impact, as if… Read more »
