Plenary, 21 Mar 2001

Meeting date: Wednesday, March 21, 2001

Official Report 338KB pdf

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Time for Reflection

I welcome Gelongma Lhamo, a nun from the Samye Ling Buddhist monastery in Eskdalemuir.

Good afternoon. I would like to share with you what for Buddhists is the most important thing: altruism, based on compassion and love. That is expressed in a short prayer that we use a lot, and which goes like this:

May all beings have happiness and the causes of happiness.

May they all be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.

May they all enjoy true happiness which is free from even the slightest suffering,

And may they all develop equanimity without preference for loved ones and aversion towards others.

The feeling of compassion is important whether you believe or do not believe, because everybody shares or feels the value of love and compassion. If we are able to practise compassion, we feel much better inside: more calm and more peaceful—and other people reciprocate that feeling. If we are angry, real peace, friendship and trust are impossible but, through love, we can develop understanding, unity, friendship and harmony. So kindness and compassion are the most important things.

Showing kindness to others, we can learn to be less selfish; sharing the sufferings of others, we will develop more concern for the welfare of everyone. However, we need to balance compassion with wisdom. A good brain and a good heart should work together. The two should be developed in balance. When they are, the result is material progress, accompanied by good spiritual development. Heart and mind working in harmony will yield a truly peaceful and friendly human family.

We human beings have a sophisticated brain. As a result of that, we have developed much material progress. We certainly are not lacking in terms of the development of science and technology, but still we lack something in the heart: a real inner warm feeling—a good heart.

Deep down, we must have real affection for one other. As we have to live together, why not do it with a positive attitude and with a good mind?

If we really analyse how our lives work, we see that things and events depend heavily on motivation. If we have a real sense of appreciation of humanity, compassion and love, and if we develop a good heart, then whatever our field is—be it science, agriculture or politics—as motivation is so very important, those will all improve. A good heart is both important and effective in daily life.

If we have such a good mind, we will be comfortable, and our friends, family, colleagues and others will be happy as well. If we do not have such a good mind, the opposite occurs. The reason why people, from nation to nation and from continent to continent, are unhappy is just that. Therefore, in human society, good will and kindness are the most important things. They are very precious, and are necessary in our lives. It is worth while for each of us to make some effort to develop a good heart.

I would like to leave you with another very short prayer, which sums up the feeling of openness and willingness to take on anything, no matter how difficult, if it will help our fellow human beings:

As long as space endures,
As long as sentient beings remain,
Until then, may I too remain,
And dispel the miseries of the world.

Thank you.