My Spiritual Journey

by Dalai Lama

This teaching teaches us that it is virtuous

  To plant trees and protect their growth.

  The Buddha forbids monks to cut down

  Or to have others cut down living plants,

  To destroy seeds or soil the green, fresh grass.

  Should that not inspire in us

  Love and protection for our environment?

  It is said that, in the heavenly realms,

  Trees emanate from the blessings of the Buddha

  And echo his words,

  Expressing his fundamental teaching of impermanence.

  It is trees that bring rain

  And retain the essence of the soil’s fertility.

  The Kalpataru,22 the wish-fulfilling tree, Is supposed to grow on the Earth to help us accomplish all our goals.

  Long ago, our ancestors ate the fruits of trees

  And covered themselves with their leaves.

  They learned to make fire by rubbing wood together,

  And they took refuge under their branches in case of danger.

  Even in this era of science and technology,

  Trees provide shelter for us,

  Chairs to sit down in and beds to sleep in.

  When the heart is burning with the fire of anger, fed by arguments, Trees offer their fresh, welcoming shade. In trees reside the sighs of all life on Earth. When they have disappeared,

  The continent called by the name of the Jambu tree23 Will be nothing but a gloomy, devastated desert. Nothing is dearer to the living than life. Having recognized this, in the rules of the Vinaya, The Buddha establishes prohibitions, Such as not using water that contains living creatures. In the remote lands of the Himalayas, In the old days, in Tibet, they forbade hunting and fishing And even construction work24 at certain times. These traditions are noble, for they preserve and cherish The lives of the humblest creatures, innocent and defenseless. Playing with the lives of other beings, without hesitation or feeling,

  As in sporting activities like hunting or fishing, Represents senseless and useless violence,

  Defying the solemn rights of the living.

  While being attentive to the interdependent nature

  Of all creatures, both animate and inanimate,

  We should never relax our efforts

  To protect and preserve the energy of nature.

  A special day, in a special month of every year,

  Should be dedicated to the planting of a tree.

  Thus, we should take up our responsibility toward our brethren,

  For our own greatest happiness, and the happiness of all.

  May the force of observing what is right,

  Abstaining from evil conduct and harmful actions,

  Feed the prosperity of the world and increase it!

  May such an attitude increase the vigor of living beings

  And allow them to flourish!

  May pastoral joy and natural happiness

  Continue to grow and spread, embracing everything that lives!25

  Our Planet Is One World

  The Buddha in the Green Party!

  IF WE THINK CAREFULLY ABOUT IT, we come to the conclusion that if the Buddha Shakyamuni were to return among us and join a political party, it would be the Green Party! (Laughs.) He would be an ecologist! (Laughs.)

  After all, the Buddha was not born in a paradise, but in a garden.26 When he became enlightened, it wasn’t in an office, a house, or a temple, but in the shade of a tree, the Bodhi Tree.27 And when he died, it was at the foot of two trees that the Buddha entered great nirvana.28

  Human rights and the environment

  IF I HAD TO vote, it would be for a party that defends the environment. One of the more positive recent developments in the world is the growing realization of the importance of nature. There is nothing sacred or holy about this. As human beings, our life comes from nature, and it is senseless to act against it. That is why I say that the environment is not a question of religion or ethics or morality, all of which are luxuries, since we can do without them and still survive. But we will not survive if we continue to go against nature.

  We must accept this reality. If we throw nature off balance, humanity will suffer. Moreover, we who are living today must take into consideration those who will live tomorrow. A clean environment is a human right like any other. So it is our responsibility to hand down a world that is healthy, if not even healthier than we found it. This proposition is not as difficult as it may seem. True, our capacity to act as individuals is limited, but the commitment of everyone is not. Individually, we must do everything we can, no matter how little. Even if turning off the light when you leave a room doesn’t seem very consequential, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it.

  On this point, as a Buddhist monk, my feeling is that belief in karma is very useful in everyday life. Once you believe in the connection between the motivation of an action and its effect, you become more sensitive to the repercussions of what you do, for yourself and others. That is the reason why, despite the tragedy that is occurring in Tibet, I find many good things in the world.

  I am especially comforted when I see that consumption, taken as an end in itself, seems to be giving way to the feeling that we must preserve the Earth’s resources. This is utterly necessary. Human beings are children of the Earth. Whereas our common Mother Earth has tolerated our conduct up to now, she is showing us at present that we have reached the limits of what is tolerable.

  I pray I am someday able to pass on this message of protection of the environment and care for others to the people of China. Since Buddhism isn’t at all foreign to the Chinese, I think I can be useful to them, on a practical level. The ninth Panchen Lama once gave the Kalachakra initiation in Beijing.29 So if I were to do the same thing, there would be a precedent. As a Buddhist monk, my concern is for all members of the human family—actually for all sentient beings.

  With the growing impact of science on our lives, religion and spirituality have an even larger role to play, by reminding us of our humanity. There is no contradiction between these two approaches. Each one gives us valuable insights that allow us to understand the other better. Both science and the teachings of the Buddha speak to us of the essential unity of all living things.

  Many times the Dalai Lama has publicly expressed his desire to confer on his “Chinese brothers and sisters” a Kalachakra initiation in Beijing, on Tiananmen Square. This tantric ritual, regarded as the supreme rite of Tibetan Buddhism, is dedicated to peace in the world.

  When he gave the Kalachakra initiation in Sarnath in 1990 after having received the Nobel Peace Prize, the Dalai Lama blessed the seeds of different fruit trees and handed them out to the participants, declaring, “All the continents in the world are represented in this Kalachakra gathering. These seeds were placed near the mandala to receive the blessings. There are apricot, hazelnut, papaya, guava, and other seeds, which can be cultivated at various latitudes.”30 Thus, the world was sown with the seeds of peace.

  Mind, heart, and environment

  IT IS DIFFICULT for ordinary human beings to understand fully the experts’ forecasts on environmental changes. We hear talk of global warming, rising sea levels, increased cancer rates, major demographic growth, the exhaustion of natural resources, and the extinction of species. Everywhere, human activity is causing an accelerated destruction of the key elements on which the natural ecosystem of all living beings rests.

  The world population has tripled in the space of a century, and it is expected to be multiplied by two or three in the twenty-first century. With the development of the global economy, extreme increases of energy consumption, production of carbon monoxide, and large-scale deforestation are foreseen. It is hard to imagine—all this will occur during our lifetime and during our children’s lifetime. We must anticipate suffering and environmental degradation on a global scale that will surpass anything we’ve known in the history of humanity.

  In my opinion, however, there is still some good news: from now on,
we will have to find a way to survive together on this planet. We have experienced enough wars, poverty, pollution, and suffering. According to the Buddhist teachings, these tragedies stem from ignorance and selfish actions, because most of the time we can’t manage to see the relationship that links all living things together. The Earth is warning us and giving us a clear signal of the large-scale consequences and the negative potential created by misdirected human behavior.

  To thwart these harmful practices, let us learn to become more aware of our dependence on one another, and let us engage in correct actions, based on better motivation, to help the Earth and our brethren. That is why I always speak of the importance of an authentic sense of our universal responsibility.

  We need knowledge that will allow us to take care of ourselves, of each location on Earth, and of the life it sustains. All this concerns future generations as well, so education on the subject of the environment is a priority for everyone.

  Science and technological progress are essential to improve the quality of life in the present world. Even more important is learning to know and appreciate our natural environment more, whether we are adults or children. If we have real concern for others and if we refuse to act inconsiderately, we will be able to take care of the Earth. Let us learn how to share it instead of wanting to own it and destroying the beauty of life.

  The ancestral cultures that have adapted to nature show how to create balance between a society and its environment. The Tibetans, as an example, have a unique experience of life on the Himalayan plateau, developed over the long history of a civilization that took care not to overexploit or destroy a fragile ecosystem. We have long appreciated the presence of wild animals, thinking they symbolize freedom. A profound respect for nature is visible in our art and our way of life. Our spiritual development was maintained despite limited material progress. Just as various species cannot adapt to sudden environmental change, human cultures also need to be treated with special consideration to assure their survival. Therefore, studying the ways of life of various peoples and preserving their cultural heritage is one way to learn how to protect the environment.

  If we look closely, we see that the human mind, the human heart, and the environment are all inseparable. From this perspective, environmental education allows the birth of both the understanding and the love that we need for a peaceful and lasting coexistence.31

  Taking care of the Earth

  THE EARTH IS NOT only the common heritage of humanity, but also our ultimate source of life. By overexploiting its resources, we are in the process of undermining the very ground of our survival. All around we see the signs of destruction caused by human action and the degradation of nature. So protection and preservation of the Earth are questions not of morality or ethics, but of survival. The way we rise to this challenge will have an impact not just on our generation but on many generations to come.

  When it comes to questions that have such a global import, the human mind is the key factor, as is the case in business, international, scientific, technological, medical, or ecological problems. All these seem to go beyond the capacity of individual response, but their root and solution must be sought within the mind. In order to transform the situation outside, we must transform ourselves from within. If you want a beautiful garden, you must first sketch it out in your imagination and have a vision of it. Then the idea can be made concrete, and the external garden will materialize. Destruction of natural resources results from ignorance, from a lack of respect for the living things of the Earth, and from greed.

  To begin, we must try to control these negative states of mind by developing an awareness of the interdependent nature of all phenomena, by cultivating a wish not to harm other living beings, and by understanding their need for compassion. Because of the interdependent nature of every living being, we cannot hope to solve a multifaceted question by beginning with partiality or a self-centered attitude. History shows us that peoples haven’t often managed to cooperate. Our past failures result from the ignorance of our interdependent nature. Today we need a holistic approach to problems linked to an authentic sense of universal responsibility, based on love and compassion.

  I offer my best wishes and my prayers so that we can become aware of the necessity to take better care of the Earth.32

  Interdependence as seen from space

  WHEN WE LOOK AT THE EARTH from space, we don’t see any borders, just a little blue planet. One planet. The question that arises today is that of the future of the entire planet. It is becoming obvious that our very survival is closely linked to a number of factors. The interdependence taught in Buddhism does not now seem like an ideological abstraction, but like a proven fact, illustrated by this image of the Earth.33

  The Dalai Lama’s position on the subject of ethics, human rights, and the environment introduced to the international scene the notion of interdependence and its corollary, universal responsibility. Thus, since the 1990s, many UN declarations have been written with the aim of inspiring in the peoples of the world a new feeling of interdependence and shared responsibility for the well-being of humanity and all living things.

  For example, in the following texts we find the key notions of the Dalai Lama’s analysis of the contemporary world: the Charter of Human Responsibilities (December 2002); the Declaration for a Global Ethics, written by the Parliament of the World Religions (Chicago, 1994); the Project for Universal Ethics, developed by UNESCO’s Department of Philosophy and Ethics; the Universal Declaration for Human Responsibility (Vienna, 1997); and the Earth Charter, presented at UNESCO (Paris, 2000).

  Echoes of the Dalai Lama’s analysis can be seen even in the terminology of these documents—as attested, for instance, by this excerpt from the Earth Charter calling for the creation of a world society at a crucial time in the history of the Earth, a time when humanity must decide its own future:

  As the world becomes increasingly interdependent and fragile, the future at once holds great peril and great promise. To move forward we must recognize that in the midst of a magnificent diversity of cultures and life forms we are one human family and one Earth community with a common destiny. We must join together to bring forth a sustainable global society founded on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justices, and a culture of peace. Towards this end, it is imperative that we, the peoples of the Earth, declare our responsibility to one another, to the greater community of life, and to future generations.

  Humanity is part of a vast evolving universe. Earth, our home, is alive with a unique community of life…. The global environment with its finite resources is a common concern of all peoples. The protection of the Earth’s vitality, diversity, and beauty is a sacred trust….

  The choice is ours: form a global partnership to care for Earth and one another or risk the destruction of ourselves and the diversity of life. Fundamental changes are needed in our values, institutions, and ways of living. We must realize that when basic needs have been met, human development is primarily about being more, not having more….

  To realize these aspirations, we must decide to live with a sense of universal responsibility, identifying ourselves with the whole Earth community as well as our local communities…. Everyone shares responsibility for the present and future well-being of the human family and the larger living world. The spirit of human solidarity and kinship with all life is strengthened when we live with reverence for the mystery of being, gratitude for the gift of life, and humility regarding the human place in nature.

  We urgently need a shared vision of basic values to provide an ethical foundation for the emerging world community.34

  It is interesting to note that the Earth Charter makes a point of defining “the place we occupy as human beings in the universe.” If it is necessary to assert our quality as human beings, isn’t that a sign that this place is threatened?

  Spirituality seems to constitute a final recourse, since it offers a recentering around human values and the meani
ng of life. It is on this basis that the Dalai Lama has suggested founding a secular ethics for the twenty-first century. He asserts that spirituality allows a revolution of the heart that is capable of awakening our consciousness. The spiritual dimension shows our human potential all that it is capable of by opening up the way for an inner transformation that can lead to transforming the world.

  PART THREE

  As the Dalai Lama

  6

  In 1959 the Dalai Lama Meets the World