The ideals of Buddhism are open to people of all faiths because they teach non-exclusive concepts such as compassion and the wisdom to tell right from wrong, Buddhist teacher and master Her Eminence Mindrolling Jetsun Khandro Rinpoche said during a panel discussion held after the Dalai Lama’s Oct. 10 teachings.
The dialogue, titled “Using Wisdom as the Heart of Change — A Symposium,” took place in Bender Arena as a way to deconstruct and further explain what the Dalai Lama had said at AU earlier. Several experts in Tibetan Buddhism spoke and answered questions regarding the practical application of Buddhist practices to everyday life. Robert Thurman, a Buddhist studies professor at Columbia University, served as the symposium’s moderator. Other panelists included Buddhist monks and teachers from Tibet, as well as American psychologists and scholars of Tibetan Buddhism.
Jetsun Khandro Rinpoche, dressed in the traditional red robe of a Buddhist monk, said one does not need to be a Buddhist in order to help others.
“The purpose of all this is to become good human beings,” she said. “It’s quite simple.”
Rinpoche and others spoke to a crowd that nearly filled the arena but consisted of few college-age audience members and even fewer AU students. However, many of the panelists expressed satisfaction with the number of people who attended.
The panel was broken into three sections, which discussed the view, meditation and action considered “right” under Buddhist teachings.
Possessing the right view is the first step to achieving the right meditation and action, according to Geshe Thupten Jinpa, the Dalai Lama’s English translator.
Each individual creates his or her own view of the world and of him or herself, Jinpa said. People who see things in a positive light will always be much happier than those who see things in a negative light.
“Basically you can bring, as part of your view, whatever ideas that would be beneficial,” Jinpa said.
Part of finding the right view is giving up the idea that individuals exist as unique, fixed identities, Thurman said. Most people suffer because they get caught up in the egocentric belief that they have one “absolute self” that needs constant attention.
“Everyone’s problem is they go around secretly thinking ‘I’m the one!’” Thurman said.
In reality, individuals only exist as a “relative self,” or as one flexible, shifting identity out of many. Therefore, the only way to achieve happiness is to focus on the well being of others, Thurman said.
Just as there are no fixed identities, there is also no beginning or end to any moment or to any person’s existence, Thurman said.
“We’ve been in this lecture many, many times according to Buddhist view,” he said.
Once an individual has established the right view, he or she uses meditation as a tool to internalize this view and turn it into action, Jinpa said. He used meditation on loving kindness as an example of this process. When people meditate on this idea, they conjure up images of their loved ones and become filled with loving sentiments. They then expand these sentiments and apply them to everyone else in the form of kind actions.
“You’re cultivating a certain type of being,” he said. “At a certain point, that process becomes effortless and natural.”
Tsoknyi Rinpoche III, a Tibetan Buddhist mediation teacher, said that when “hippies” brought meditation to the United States as a new type of trend, most of them did not know the right view. They were therefore meditating on nothing, or engaging in “stupid meditation.”
“Without view, meditation could be like walking with blind eyes,” Tsoknyi Rinpoche III said.
There are also scientifically-proven health benefits to meditating on compassion, according to Charles Raison, a professor in Emory University’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.
Stress and anger instigate the release of biological chemicals that prepare the body for defense. These chemicals put a great deal of wear and tear on the body. Compassion meditation essentially eliminates these negative thoughts by turning bad situations into positive situations and enemies into friends.
“It gives the brain a sense that somebody’s got its back, that it’s not living in such a dangerous world,” Raison said.
Once the right view has been internalized through meditation, the individual should practice right action by cultivating positive courses and helping others, Jetsun Khandro Rinpoche said.
“When the action and the view no longer contradict each other, then you can consider yourself enlightened,” she said.
Anyone can transform themselves and get rid of emotional pain by meditating and creating cognitive steadiness, Tsoknyi Rinpoche III said.
“I’d like to see you transform,” he said.
You can reach this staff writer at mkendall@theeagleonline.com.
