Good afternoon, everyone. The first item of business is time for reflection. Our leader is Ani Lhamo, from Kagyu Samye Ling monastery and Tibetan centre in Eskdalemuir.
Good afternoon. Thank you for inviting me to talk to you today. As you may be able to hear, I am Scottish and, although I might not look it, I feel thoroughly Scottish. However, I have been a nun within the Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism for more than 25 years. Throughout that time, I have lived according to Buddhist principles and observed the discipline of a nun, which involves wearing robes and shaving the head. I have travelled freely around Scotland and, in all those years as a nun, I have never been treated badly because of my appearance or beliefs.
That has made me think about the fact that today in Scotland we have a wonderful prevailing atmosphere of tolerance and understanding. My own experience is proof of that, which makes me feel proud to belong to a country where the general policy and the way of life of the people are based on tolerance, understanding and acceptance of others.
From a Buddhist perspective, tolerance is extremely important. It means to accept that other people hold different views from ourselves, to be willing to allow others to be different in their views and actions, and to have an attitude of loving kindness towards those who are different from us.
That seems to be an important aspect of modern life. Disturbances, wars and political upheavals around the world are caused by a lack of tolerance. Lack of tolerance causes the breakdown of relations between individuals and groups and, on a national level, it separates countries and even causes conflict and wars.
We are all human beings. Some of us look different, but we all breathe the same air and the only way that we will survive in the long run is through learning to live alongside one another. If we want to achieve domestic harmony, good relations between ethnic and religious groups and peace between the different countries and races, we have no choice but to learn to accept one another.
I hope that Scotland will always maintain its adherence to the principles of tolerance and compassion and as an example of how we could put that into practice, I would like to end with some guidance that the Buddha gave about how to deal with difficult people and situations. He said that when we meet those things, rather than reacting negatively, we should think:
“If a person foolishly does me wrong, I will return to him the protection of my boundless love. The more evil that comes from him the more good will go from me.”
Thank you.
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