All human beings are born with the seed for compassion, the Dalai Lama reminded more than 4,000 people“inner peace and mental comfort.” The Dalai Lama, the 78-year-old spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, was speaking for the first time at the Jesuit university, where the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics partnered with the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford University to bring the Dalai Lama to the heart of Silicon Valley. Jesuit Fr. Michael Engh, Santa Clara University president, said he was “profoundly honored” to welcome the Dalai Lama to the campus known for its education in ethics.gathered at Santa Clara University Feb. 24 for a public dialogue on business, ethics and compassion. But that seed must be nourished by parental love, fostered by teachers, and incorporated into the fabric of the workplace to have a society whose members are compassionate, he said. Only when people can approach life with genuine concern for others will they experience
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2 comments:
While as a Catholic, I can identify and understand the Chinese communist agression of ethnic and de facto genocide of Tibetans, I'm not swallowing the utopian paradise that Hollywood would have us believe about pre-Communist Tibet OR the Dalai Lama. Neither the Dalai Lama, nor the Tibetan exile movement is egalitarian, nor do they have a pulse on wider humanity outside their own lemming-like followers who will swallow any utterings as "profound". Does this "Seed of compassion" include people with brains which are chemically wired such that they do not comprehend what is wrong or right to the majority of humans (i.e. psychopathic/sociopathic for example)? Just one of many questions I'd ask were I motivated to attend this event...but I'm not.
In another comment I said that it was appropriate for the students at a Jesuit University to be allowed to sponsor gay activities. But, while it may seem contradictory, this talk by the Dalai Lama is not appropriate.
The reasons are subtle. For one, the University ethics organization is, presumably, aligned with Jesuit values. And the Dalai Lama, once you get past the "compassion" and other superficial values, lives a belief system that is very different from Catholic values and beliefs.
It is perfectly reasonable to study Buddhist values and beliefs. And it is perfectly reasonable to respect the Dalai Lama. If the Dalai Lama were less "high profile" this talk would also be acceptable -- in a University educational context.
But, quite simply, we are a different people. And we must be careful not to encourage confusion about who we are. We are who we are for a reason.
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