Mon, 26 May 2008
The Karmapa at KTC
I have to apologize for eing offline so long. I've had problems with my phone service for the past three weeks and only got them resolved today. Last Friday I attended the Medicine Buddha empowerment H. H. Karmapa gave at the New Jersy KTC. As usual I took notes and the first half of my notes, the talk the Karmapa gave before the empowerment. I will post he remarks he made about thhe empowerment tomorrow.
Brian arranged for a tour bus to go from Wahington to the KTC. That sounded better than driving up all by myself and hogging a parking space, so that's how I went. Because there were more people than could fit on the bus, two vans took people from outlying locations, which included Baltimore. The van I took was about half Euro and half Chinese. Several people were from the Baltimore and DC Shambhala Centers and their conversation had a lot of chit chat about the various Shambhala levels.
When we got to the KTC there was a long line waiting to get through the security screening. I set off the metal detactor big time. Eventually they waved me through. I guess I must have seemed harmless. We sat under a huge tent and I was way towards the back, so far from the stage I could barely see the Karmapa's face. We got there about an hour before the talk and while I sat there, I saw various people I knew walk by. They were all too intent on what they were doing to notice me, leaving me feeling like a ghost.
So here are my notes and I do want to emphasize that they are notes because people sometimes mistake them for a transcript. The notes were taken the old fashioned way, ink and notepad, then transcribed and uploaded for your reading pleasure.
As I am a Buddhist, I know most about Buddhism. It's always considered best to talk about what you know. But I do not consider myself an expert. We are now in the 21st Century and we need to learn to apply new methods appropriate to it. In my life I have studied Tibetan, Chinese, and English. This has increased my ability to communicate. As the world is shrinking, there is a real possibility that we will be able to achieve a new harmony through communication.
I was born in Tibet and come from there. I have a deep feeling for Tibetan culture. However, I am also familiar with the Chinese culture and language as they have become very widespread in Tibet.
The knowledge of languages, especially Chinese, has been helpful to me. The Tibetan language varies from region to region and it's said that two Tibetans from different regions sharing bread will run out of words in common before finishing it. Chinese, in comparison, is standardized, so that is very helpful. And English is spoken in many lands across the globe. So knowledge of different languages increases the possibilities for understanding and communication between different peoples.
In my experience, peace and happiness must expand outwards until they cross all boundaries and borders. Why? Because we are troubled by the boundaries we create between self and other. Even though we don't know if this boundary is valid, we act as if it is. We want the best for ourselves and whether others get enough doesn't matter.
Some people say to me the attempt to benefit others just leads to frustration and problems and it's best to benefit yourself first. Even in something as simple as offering a cup of tea, you must first ask if they want tea, because they may dislike it. Since our own desires are known to us, it is simpler to benefit ourselves, and so we should begin with this.
However, we need to reflect carefully on this. There are always two ways to look at things. When I was in Tibet, Westerners were comparatively rare and not there for long. We speculated that Westerners must dislike everything we like and like everything we dislike. I was reluctant to teach the Dharma because I thought they would perceive its positive qualities as negative. So I made an experiment. I told funny stories and saw they would laugh. I told sad stories and saw they were sad. And I told infuriating stories and saw they were angry. So I concluded Westerners were not so different from Tibetans after all.
Sometimes it's appropriate to ask people what they like. But too many questions can be an invasion of privacy. There is a fundamental level where everyone is the same. Everyone seeks happiness and wants to avoid suffering. So we can be supportive and empathetic to others.
People ask me what is my favorite food. But people feed me different dishes and don't name them, so I don't know what they're called. I suppose I like whatever fills me the most.
