Bring quality back into Buddhist pursuits
In his speech to a large crowd of Tibetans from Tibet given on Mar 27,
2006 at the end of his Monlam teaching in Dharamsala, the Dalai Lama
spoke passionately about several issues, one of which was about the
need for the concerned Tibetans and Buddhists to bring primary focus on
quality when it comes to religious education, discoursing, or practice.
The following are relevant excerpts, as translated by the editor.
Most of us Tibetans are poor when it comes to
standards of knowledge. Speaking from the religious point of view,
there are in our society of six million Tibetans people with
astonishing degree of genuine faith in Buddhism. Buddhism is profound,
became widespread and has been propagated from generation to generation
and has therefore progressed and flourished. As a result, today too,
the Snowland of Tibet is almost the only place where on the world stage
the entirety of the Mahayana, Hinayana and Tantric teachings of
Buddhism could be fully preserved, and where in this world the
religious heritage of the Great Nalanda University could be fully kept,
defended and spread without a whiff of contamination. In particular, in
terms of keeping, defending and spreading the teaching and practice of
Buddhism in an integrated manner, Tibet has the most profound tradition
and curriculum. Taking the Tibetan society as a whole, the Snowland of
Tibet has, through generations over a millennium, been a race of people
who preserved Buddhism by keeping, defending and spreading it.
Nevertheless, among the general public, it is obvious that knowledge of
Buddhism is extremely poor.
In terms of the religious activities in our
ecumenical monasteries in Tibet, the main consideration should not be
given to the numerical strength of the monks and nuns in them; what is
more relevant is that it is extremely important to ensure good
qualities of training and discipline in them. Otherwise, if the
standards of study and training are poor and the state of discipline
too is nothing to talk about, large populations of monks and nuns would
only mean too large numbers of such monks and nuns, which is of no
help. Good quality is extremely important.
I some times see in the Tibetan community big
efforts being seemingly made to enlarge the numbers of monks and nuns.
I do not see this as particularly important. To speak bluntly, we do
raise protests over the existing dangers of Tibetans becoming a
minority in our own land. The danger is real. We also have considerable
international support on this. In a period of such great change, when
the Tibetan population is dangerously small, we ourselves would seem to
be contributing further to the declining number by raising the
population of monks and nuns to the point that there would be too many
of them. Therefore, if despite the fact that the Tibetan population is
already too small, the number of monks and nuns is raised further, the
result will surely be a further decline of our population.
We also need to think about the situation in
places like Ladakh. It is a failure resulting from extreme
short-sightedness that there is an impression that in the ecumenical
monasteries both in and outside Tibet great attention is being paid to
an imperative to raise the number of monks and nuns, with seeming
shortage of focus on the training and discipline of the monks and nuns.
Therefore, unless we think by paying attention to
all aspects of the situation today, this is definitely not an era of
progress for us. We all should think on the basis of having looked in
all directions in our back and front, and to our left and right. It is
certainly not a period in which we can make decisions solely on the
basis of what we actually see before us. In any case, it is extremely
important to uphold the quality of training and discipline as more
important than the number of monks and nuns.
Like I said recently, when teaching on Choejug
(Bodhisattva way of Life), being familiar with the Sutra and Tantra
texts alone won't do. Ritualistically beating drums, striking cymbals
and performing cham (religious dance) in supposed displays of religious
practice, but remaining unable to recognize the Three Jewels (The
Buddha, Dharma and Sangha) in reality would put us in danger of
performing self-blessings. We must be very cautious about it. Buddhism
is not revealed merely by beating drums and striking cymbals, and there
is no way such rituals can enhance devotion. On the other hand, there
is a danger of it becoming a system of ideas without foundation.
So, it is extremely important for everyone not to
lose touch with his or her roots. Within the Tibetan community one can
see many instances everywhere of people who had lost their roots and go
about clinging to branches. To sum up, the noble tradition of the
learning of the Tibetan Buddhist philosophy extant in the time of our
ancestors should primarily be maintained by our monasteries. On that
basis, the monks and the nuns in the monasteries should ensure high
quality of study and training as well as discipline and thereby must be
able to maintain the faith in both teaching and practice. Everyone
needs to make efforts to bring progress within the general public in
terms of modern knowledge, and, on that basis, enable people to gain
in-depth understanding of Buddhism and thereby find devotion in it.
This is one of the important points on which I routinely make appeals.
Over many decades in China, especially during the
Cultural Revolution, when the Four Olds were being destroyed, there was
a lot of persecution, with opposition to religion and culture being
total. But human nature is such that it needs a source of faith and
hope, and, as a result, the number of followers of the Christian faith
is witnessing high growth. The number of people practising the Buddhist
faith, too, is growing likewise. Especially, in the recent period, many
people have been turning their attention to Tibetan Buddhism. Over the
last two decades, there have been many Chinese people paying attention
to Tibetan Buddhism and receiving teachings from Tibetan Lamas, Geshes,
etc. Today, this number is increasing ever more.
Take the case of the seat set up by Khen Rinpoche
Jigme Phuntsog. Not only were there a large number of ethnic Chinese
disciples there, but it also had a flourishing academy. But it
suffered unimaginable decline recently and, ultimately, even the great
abbot himself passed away. This was an immensely sad development. But,
still, not only are there so many ethnic Chinese taking interest in and
following Tibetan Buddhism, but they are also receiving teachings from
Tibetan Lamas, Geshes, etc. These are highly positive developments and
I greatly appreciate them.
The Lamas and Geshes of Tibet, and other teachers
and propagators of Buddhism must all bear in mind that in this period
one very important consideration to be borne in mind is that it would
be a grave error to propagate and teach Buddhism for the purpose of
monetary or material gains or for the purpose of living a life of
luxury. Not only that, when looked at from the point of view of the
karmas of merit and sin, this would amount to merchandizing religion.
Practitioners of religion would not act like that. In any case,
concerned persons from all sides need to exercise caution.
It is possible that some times Lamas and religious
masters will feel a sense of being important and develop an inflated
ego on the basis of very strong faith and hope reposed in them by
believers as they make offerings and pay obeisance. Such developments
are not at all good. As Drom Toenpa has said: Even if one were held in
the highest esteem by everyone/ It is better to hold oneself in subdued
humility. One should never forget this. In my own case too, I have
constantly been keeping this in mind. Whenever people show great
obeisance to me by addressing me as His Holiness, I always humble
myself by earnestly recalling thus: Wherever and whomsoever I go to
for whatever purpose,/ by holding myself the humblest of all,/ may I
hold others, in all sincerity,/ to the highest level. I do this at all
times without any relaxation of effort. You too should think by doing
likewise.
To speak to you about a sad aspect in our
situation today, recently, in many countries such as Taiwan, America,
Europe, Russia and Mongolia, there have been cases of fake Tibetan
lamas and religious masters doing irreligious things. In China too,
reports have been emerging about fake Tibetan religious masters coming
from Tibet. All this is an extremely tragic development.
What one witnesses is of well endowed and capable
religious masters remaining in meek withdrawal while there are out
there fake religious masters who, devoid of all sense of shame, and
brimming with greed and talking naked falsehood, wear the mask of
religion with great audacity, carry out irreligious activities and
thereby bring disrepute to the Buddhist religion and faith. In view of
this, everyone should exercise utmost care to gain purposive
determination. It is especially important that the well-endowed
religious masters should assume the responsibility to serve the
religion and humanity.
