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28     EASTERN HORIZON  |  FEATURE























               His Holiness the Dalai Lama listening to a
               question from a student during his talk on
               “Our World in a Time of Change” online from
               his residence in Dharamsala, HP, India on
               March 29, 2021. Photo by Ven Tenzin Jamphel



               “We human beings are              His Holiness stated that this was   taught. Later, the masters of the
               compassionate by nature. From     the practice of great masters of the   Nalanda Tradition employed reason
               birth we are sheltered by our     past and is a practice he himself has   extensively. Those like Nagarjuna
               mother’s love. We depend on others   followed. It’s because the nature of   and Chandrakirti had very sharp,
               for our very survival. Scientists   the mind is clear light that we can   independent minds. Chandrakirti
               observe that because we are social   reduce and eliminate ignorance.   taught that nothing exists by
               animals, we are naturally concerned   This makes us masters of our own   itself; things only exist by way of
               about our own community and yet   destiny.                          designation, which is a very subtle
               modern education concentrates                                       interpretation of the Middle Way.
               on external things. If we were    Another Buryat student enquired   Other great scholars were unable
               to cultivate a sense of emotional   why more women than men seemed   to accept this because of fear of the
               hygiene, the way we observe       to be interested in the spiritual   notion that nothing exists the way it
               physical hygiene to preserve our   life. His Holiness conceded that   appears.
               health, we’d learn to tackle our   he’s noticed that in the West, for   His Holiness emphasized that
               destructive emotions and nurture a   example, there are more Christian   because wisdom is the antidote to
               sense of altruism.”               nuns than monks. He speculated    ignorance, investigating different
                                                 that women may be more aware of   ways of thinking in the light of
               A young woman from Moscow State   how dependent we all are on each   reason is immensely important. This
               University wondered how humanity   other. He declared that the Buddha   approach, typical of the Nalanda
               would be if everyone became       had given the same opportunities   Tradition, is what has enabled His
               enlightened. His Holiness clarified   to men and to women inasmuch   Holiness and thousands of scholars
               that Buddhahood is a state in which   as both could receive monastic   from the monastic centres of
               the mind has been completely      ordination.                       learning in South India to engage
               purified of negative emotions. The                                  fruitfully with modern scientists.
               nature of the mind is clear light and   A young woman from Moscow was
               compassion, whereas destructive   interested to know how Buddhism   After a year in which students
               emotions are rooted in ignorance.   had been affected by greater    have related to their teachers and
               However, it is because negative   interaction with other cultures and   studied online and His Holiness
               emotions have no sound basis that   systems of knowledge in recent   himself has taught regularly online,
               they can be eliminated and the    times. His Holiness told her that at   he told a young Kalmyk woman that
               clear light nature of the mind can be   the time of the Buddha, followers of   when it is possible, direct personal
               revealed.                         what later became the Pali Tradition   communication has its own benefits.
                                                 did not scrutinize what he had    However, no Buddhist alive today







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