India respects spiritual traditions: Dalai Lama

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, June 14

Chinese Communists have tried unsuccessfully to restrict the Tibetan Buddhist culture, and it is clear that the Tibetan Buddhist philosophy is more profound than Chinese communism, said the Dalai Lama while preaching at the main Tibetan temple at McLeodganj this morning.

“In contrast to the Chinese ideology, Tibetans exercise a kind of Buddhist democracy in their monasteries and nunneries. Tibet’s traditions are vast, deep and profound and have the potential to be combined with modern science,” he said.

The Dalai Lama said, “India has a good, longstanding tradition of showing respect to all spiritual traditions and many different traditions have flourished in this land”.

Today, 8,500 people from 56 countries, including 700 monks and nuns from the Sherabling and Chango communities, who had requested the empowerment (a teaching), gathered at the Tsuglagkhang, the main Tibetan temple, to welcome the Dalai Lama.

Tai Situ Rinpoché, head of the Sherabiling monastery, offered a ‘mandala’ and the three representations of the body, speech and mind of enlightenment. The Dalai Lama observed that he and Rinpoché had been friends for a long time and that Rinpoché had been unwaveringly loyal.

“I’m a Buddhist monk, who has studied logic and epistemology. I’ve learned that views like those propounded by Mind Only School regarding the non-duality of the subject and the object can be put to the test of reason. Today, even scientists admire Buddhism’s vast and reasoned presentation of the workings of the mind and emotions. When we are children in the monasteries, we study mind and awareness; we learn about 51 mental factors. As for me, I have studied collected topics, mind and logic, as well as the perfection of wisdom and Madhyamaka teachings. It’s important to study classical texts, some of which I have memorised,” he said.

The Dalai Lama said that in exile, Tibetans had sought the help of the Indian Government led by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, first in establishing separate schools where Tibetan children could study in their own language. Later, great monasteries that had been centres of learning in Tibet were re-established in South India.

He said that had he remained in Tibet, he wouldn’t have been able to deepen and extend his understanding of the world.

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