The XIV Dalai Lama believes that the number of suicides around the world, unfortunately, is increasing, and the reason for this is the lack of love and compassion in the human community.
The spiritual leader of the Buddhists of Tibet spoke about this, answering the questions of the Russian Buddhists who came to his teachings in Delhi.
“Suicides are now happening all over the world. For example, in Japan, despite good economic development, there has been a large number of suicides lately. Such events are due to jealousy, competition, and lack of love and compassion. I think that in modern society there is a lack of love and compassion, RIA Novosti quotes him as saying.
Answering a question from one of the pilgrims about her loved one who hanged himself, the Dalai Lama noted that there is a very strong connection between a mother and a child, a mentor and a student, members of the same family. And the actions that a person commits necessarily have consequences, including for his loved ones. Therefore, he believes that if you perform virtuous deeds and recite mantras in order to help a loved one who committed suicide, then this will benefit him - he will be able to “get a good birth in the next life and meet with dharma (the word dharma in translation from Sanskrit means - to hold, to support, Buddhists understand it as a synonym for Buddhism; the phrase "to meet the dharma" in the interpretation of the Dalai Lama means to get an opportunity to practice Buddhism in future incarnations).
The Dalai Lama also urged listeners from Russia to develop patience even towards people who do evil and never give in to blind anger.
»It is necessary to distinguish between a person who commits a negative act and the act itself. In relation to a person, it is necessary to cultivate patience, and before taking any action, you need to think: what will harm him and what will benefit. At the same time, it is necessary to resist the unvirtuous actions that he commits. And that will be a display of courage. Anger, on the contrary, speaks of a lack of courage, - said the Buddhist leader, answering the question about the line between non-violence and the defense of justice.
According to the Dalai Lama, Tibetan culture is being destroyed in China, and this must be resisted, but "cultivating compassion and love for the people who do these actions because they do them out of ignorance."
He noted that his monk friend, who spent 18 years innocently in prison, feared not dying, but losing compassion for his oppressors. “Whatever difficulties you face, you can keep your mind calm if you have compassion. Peace of mind leads to happiness,”added the Buddhist mentor.
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“The root of all suffering and misery is clinging to the idea of the true existence of all phenomena, which is delusion. This is where clinging to one's own self, anger and hatred stem from,”the Dalai Lama emphasized.
During the teachings, he paid special attention to the verses about anger from the poem of the 8th century Buddhist ascetic Shantideva "Bodhicharya-avatara" ("The Way of the Bodhisattva"). They contain a call to "freeze motionless, like a tree", when anger arises in the mind - do nothing or say nothing, realize what is happening and only then act. “Anger, hatred is the most destructive emotion that destroys accumulated merit. In addition, hatred destroys our immune system … Anyone who recognizes anger as an enemy and overcomes it - knows happiness,”the Dalai Lama said.
Since 2009, the XIV Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso, whose entry into the Russian Federation is difficult, annually conducts exercises for Russians in India, where he has lived since 1959 after the incorporation of Tibet into China. In December 2013, about 1,500 people gathered to listen to the famous spiritual leader, mainly from the Buddhist regions of the country - Kalmykia, Buryatia, Tuva, as well as from large cities of the European part of Russia. The organizers of the teachings are the Buddhist Center "Rinpoche Bagsha" (Buryatia), the Central Khurul "The Golden Abode of Buddha Shakyamuni" (Kalmykia), the Union of Buddhists of Tuva, the Save Tibet Foundation (Moscow).
Buddhism is one of the main traditional religions in Russia. Today the country has over a million followers, and historically the teaching of the Tibetan Gelugpa school, of which the Dalai Lama is the head, has dominated.
