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Buddha, but it would cost humanity heavily by putting enemies, hatred, and so on. Therefore, it is said that
mindfulness on such a lowly placed shelf. loving kindness is the antidote to selfish desire, anger,
and fear. Loving kindness is one of the main pivots of
If there is one teaching of the Buddha that you feel is Buddhist teachings as it implies acting with compassion
still as relevant today as it was 2600 years ago, what towards all sentient beings. Hence, what is lacking in
would that be? the world today is loving kindness amongst mankind. In
a nutshell, the teaching of love and compassion by the
Aggacitta: The Four Noble Truths, which are expressions Buddha is as relevant today as 2600 years ago because
of cause and effect are applicable to both the cessation all people are looking forward for happiness in their life
of samsāric and mundane suffering. To elaborate, in this samsāric world.
the second truth (craving) is the cause of the first
(suffering) and the fourth (the way leading to the Geshe Dadul: If we study the Buddha’s teachings and
cessation of suffering) the cause of the third (cessation apply it in our lives, just about all of them will still
of suffering). The Buddha defined suffering as (a) birth, be relevant. This is due to the fact that humans have
aging, sickness and death (b) separation from the loved, fundamentally remained the same physically, mentally,
association with the unloved, not getting what one and emotionally. The so-called advancements and
wants, and (c) the five aggregates subject to clinging. developments in human history have largely remained
Both (a) and (c) are caused by craving for rebirth when in the periphery and have hardly changed us essentially;
a being dies in a previous existence and (b) by craving rather it has steeped us more into the mire of negativity
in the present existence. This is true whether today or and moral compromise. However, the teaching on the
2600 years ago. Four Noble Truths is still relevant today because it
contains the essence of all his timeless teachings; so
Min Wei: I believe that the teaching of loving kindness studying it and practicing it is the answer for us in the
is extremely important for this modern age. The modern world today. EH
world today does not lack people taking sides in each
encounter or conflict and we have enough nuclear Written by Geshe Dadul Namgyal, and edited by Martha
weapons to destroy dozens of earths, yet we continue Leslie Baker.
to build more. What we need are people who are
capable of loving, of not taking sides, so that they
can embrace all beings without discriminations. In
fact, the practice of loving kindness will eliminate

Venerable Geshe Dadul Ven. Ming Wei is a teacher of
Āyasmā Namgyal e-learning at the International

Aggacitta is the is a Geshe Buddhist College (IBC) and
founder of the Lharampa and an independent translator of
Sāsanārakkha senior resident Buddhism.
Buddhist teacher at
Sanctuary (SBS) in Taiping, Perak, Drepung Loseling Monastery in
a Pāli scholar and a meditation Atlanta, Georgia, USA
teacher.