An Appeal to the World by The Dalai Lama With Franz Alt

The Way to Peace in a Time of Division

We have the most to learn from our enemies. In a way, they are our best teachers. —The Dalai Lama.

An Appeal to the World:The Dalai Lama Story

There are six principles that he considers fundamental.

First comes the most important principle—nonviolence.

Under his leadership, this has become a symbol of the struggle to free Tibet.

He also quotes Jesus’s dictum “love thy enemy” from the sermon on the mount.

Second, and just as essential for him, is tolerance. “No peace among the nations without peace among the religions,” he says, citing the global ethos of Hans Hung.

The third principle accepts every religion in its uniqueness.

Fourth: a religious person is someone who collaborates in preserving the earth.

The fifth principle: patience.

He pins his greatest hope on two segments of the Chinese population: young people and the 400 million who believe in and practice Buddhism.

According to his holiness the Dalai Lama, we should practice compassion if we want to be happy ourselves.

Likewise, if we want other people to be happy, we should also practice compassion.

The Dalai Lama remarks that it is more important for schools to have classes on ethics rather than religion because it’s more important for humanity’s survival to be aware of our commonalities, than on what divides us.

One of the Dalai Lama’s central beliefs is that all religions and all scriptures harbor the potential for violence.

For this reason, he believes it would be best to have secular ethics beyond religions.

The Dalai Lama emphasizes, Religion is often abused or exploited by religious leaders to further political or economic interests. Therefore, it’s important to realize that humans can get by without religion, but not without inner values or ethics.

The difference between ethics and religion is like the difference between water and tea.

Religion-based ethics and inner values are more like water. The tea that we drink is made mostly of water, but it contains other ingredients: tea leaves, spices, sugar…—and that makes it more substantial, more lasting, something we want to drink every day. Yet, no matter how tea is prepared, its main ingredient is always water.

•Our spiritual well-being depends not on religion but our innate human nature, our natural affinity for goodness, compassion, and caring for others.

•We must learn now that humanity is all one big family. We are all brothers and sisters: physically, mentally, and emotionally. But we are still focusing far too much on our differences instead of our commonalities.

•Every one of us is born the same way and dies the same way. It doesn’t make much sense to take pride in our nations and religions—all the way to the graveyard.

•Ethics run deeper and are more natural than religion

•Egotism, nationalism, and violence are fundamentally incorrect paths. The most important question we can ask for a better world is, “How can we serve each other?”

•Meditation is more important than ritualized prayer. Children should learn about morals and ethics. That’s more important than all religions.

•The primary causes of war and violence are our negative emotions. We give them too much space and give too little space to our intellects and our compassion.

•We can only achieve true peace within and around ourselves by first achieving inner peace.

•Part of happiness is developing a universal sense of responsibility and a secular set of ethics.

•I look forward with joy to the day when children will learn the principles of nonviolence and peaceful conflict resolution—in other words, secular ethics—at school.

•Far too much stock is placed in material values these days. They are important, but they will not solve our stress, anxiety, anger, or frustration.

Through meditation and contemplation, we can learn, for example, that patience is the most potent antidote for anger, satisfaction for greed, bravery for fear, and understanding for doubt.

It is not very helpful to rage against others. Instead, we should strive to change ourselves.

The idea that problems can be solved with violence and weapons is a disastrous delusion. With rare exceptions, violence always leads to more violence.

EDUCATING THE HEART

A CONVERSATION WITH HIS HOLINESS THE DALAI LAMA

In the United States, President Donald Trump governs according to “America First” and “make America Great Again.” Are these mottoes still up to date in this age of globalization?

•The new reality is that everyone is interdependent on everyone else.

President Trump’s politics and his warlike rhetoric have led to division in the United States and worldwide: the division between black and white, between Americans and foreigners, between Democrats and Republicans, between rich and poor. Can religion help to overcome his division?

•Yes, to a certain degree. But in principle, religious and non-religious people should work together in these modern times.

•The time has come to understand what we are the same human being on this planet.

•Living together as brothers and sisters is the only way to peace, compassion, mindfulness, and more justice.

In Europe as well, neo-nationalism plays an increasingly important role. Why do religions in western countries play an ever less important role?

•The European Union is a good example of successful international cooperation. After centuries of wars and mutual slaughter, in the last 60 years, not one country in the European Union has waged war against another. History tells us that when people pursue only their own national interests, there is strife and war.

•The future of individual nations always depends on the well-being of their neighbors.

What you just described is really an anti-Trump program. What can rich countries do to cope with the refugee crisis? You are one of the oldest refugees in the world.

•Politicians must show compassion for people in need. Migrants must not be discriminated against. A few thousand refugees every year is no problem for rich countries.

•The rich countries have a moral duty to help refugees by providing shelter, food, and education. But in the long run, the refugees should return and rebuild their homeland.

•Nobody leaves his homeland forever.

Not long ago, you said: “My hope and wish is that one day, formal education will pay attention to what I call the ‘education of the heart.’” what is the education of the heart?

•We need a worldwide initiative for educating heart and mind in this modern age.

•Reality teaches us that we do not come to reason through understanding alone. We should place greater emphasis on inner values.

•Religion alone is also no longer sufficient. Now global secular ethics is more important than classical religions.

•We need a global ethic that can accept both believers and nonbelievers, including atheists.

•Intolerance leads to hatred and division.

•This can only become a reality if our educational systems educate the brain and the heart.

•The future educational systems should emphasize strengthening human abilities, such as warm-heartedness, the sense of oneness of humanity, and love.

•The real meaning of our life, which we all pursue, whether with or without religion, is to be happy.

Spirituality has become a fashionable word. What does it mean for you?

•We should create an ethical foundation and nurture our inner values to be appropriate to our scientific age without neglecting the deeper needs of the human spirit.

What gave you the idea that we in his era need more than traditional religions?

•Gandhi was a great friend of Jesus and his pacifism in the sermon on the mount. He is my role model because he essentially embodied religious tolerance. This tolerance has ancient Indian roots. India is home to Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, Jews, agnostics, and atheists who live together peacefully-with few exceptions. India has many Ethnic and religious minorities and hundreds of languages.

•You will find Hindu temples, Muslim mosques, Christian churches, and Buddhist sacred sites alongside each other.

•On the whole Indian society is peaceful and harmonious. All faiths share the ancient Indian principle of nonviolence, Ahimsa, which also brought Gandhi great political success.

Every day, we drive 150 species of plants and animals to extinction, expand the deserts by 50,000 hectares, and spew 150 million metric tons of greenhouse gases into the air. Essentially, we are fighting World War Three against nature. Religions have not been able to stop this development. 2016 was the warmest year on record. The Himalayan glaciers and the polar ice caps are melting. What can secular ethics accomplish in these circumstances? What are the core tenets of secular ethics?

•We have achieved great material advances over the past century. That was generally positive. But those material advances are also what has led to the environment’s current destruction. Now, in the twenty-first century, we need to learn, cultivate, and apply more inner values on all levels. A realistic look at the problems of our time, some of which you just listed, shows very clearly that we must find a sustainable and universal entry point to questions of ethics, inner values, and personal integrity–an entry point that will ultimately allow us to transcend cultural, ethnic, and religious differences.

•If all seven billion humans first considered what unites them and not what divides them, they would have less stress and anger. We should learn that we are all friends. I don’t have any enemies, only people I haven’t met yet.

•The young people of today have many more opportunities to get to know each other globally–and they should take advantage of them to improve the world.

•There are two viewpoints on human nature. One believes that humans are naturally violent, inconsiderate, and aggressive. The other believes that we have a natural tendency towards benevolence, harmony, and peaceful life. I subscribe to the second viewpoint.

•Ethical education starting around age 14 is more important than religion.

•Education changes everything. Human beings are capable of learning.

Of the six billion believers globally, many–especially in Europe–do not take their own religions seriously. In Christianity. We call them Christian by baptismal certificate.”

•The twenty-first century must be shaped by inner values. Then our century will become a century of peace and dialogue. However, there won’t be external peace until there is more inner peace.

•Almost everywhere, religious fundamentalism is one of the causes of war.

•Modern neurobiology research suggests that altruistic and less egotistical behavior pays off for everyone.

•The more strongly people believe that other people also act altruistically, they are more likely to act that way themselves. Altruism simply makes us happier.

•Happiness is not just a matter of good luck; it’s an ability that all people hold within themselves.

•One aspect of compassion is being prepared to act spontaneously for the sake of others.

•Secular ethics requires training of the heart, plenty of patience, and persistent effort. It’s also clear that for secular ethics to be beneficial, we need knowledge and action.

You are a strong advocate of modern brain research. Why is that?
•Our brain is an organ of learning. Neuropsychology teaches us that we can exercise our brains like muscles.

•By deliberately absorbing goodness and beauty, we can positively influence our brains and overcome negativity.

•Using the power of our minds, we can change our brains for the better. Those are revolutionary advances. Thanks to those advances, we also know that ethics, compassion, and social behavior are inborn traits, but religion is acquired.

What questions do we need to ask ourselves to increase our compassion?

• Are we open-minded or narrow-minded? Have we considered the big picture or only aspects of it? Do we think and act holistically? Do we really take a long-term view of things or more of a short-term view? Are our actions really motivated by sincere compassion? Are our actions really motivated by sincere compassion? Is our compassion restricted to our own families, friends, whom we can generally identify with? We need to think, think, think. And research.

•We need to overcome our personal limitations and understand other people’s points of view.

•Those who don’t recognize altruism cannot understand how politics and markets really work.

•Our new philosophy must be “your interest are our interests.

•Yesterday’s concepts won’t help us anymore. Especially for children, who are the adults of tomorrow, ethics are more important than religion.

Does the practice of meditation have measurable biological effects?

•Meditation is good for physical and psychological health, for satisfaction and well-being. That has also been my personal experience.

How important is happiness for the development of secularized ethics?
•If we encounter someone in the solitude of the desert, the last thing we’d ask is their religion or nationality.

•I’m not a god. I’m just one person out of more than seven billion. That’s also why I never feel lonely. As a human being, my first ambition is to help other people. That’s what true friendship and humanity are about: relieving other people’s suffering. And that’s why all religions preach love, tolerance, and forgiveness.

•The goal of all religions is to make us better and happier people. That’s why we should have respect and appreciation for each other.

•Weapons cannot create true peace anywhere in the world. I find wars in the name of religion difficult to stomach.

Can people become happy at all in the face of death?

• some people do not or do not want to know that they will die. And some people have forgotten that they are alive.

•If we accept death as part of life, we protect ourselves from frittering away our time with meaningless distractions.

•A selfless and detached attitude is the best and smartest preparation for death

•Life is short. If we succumb to negative emotions, we squander them. Whenever I feel a certain sense of frustration or too much sadness, I meditate on these lines by Shantideva, an Indian Buddhist master from the seventh century:

“For as long as space remains, For as long as sentient beings remain, Until then may I too remain to dispel the miseries of the world.”

What can each of us do for a better and more peaceful world?

All religions have the duty to guide people to internal and external peace. If we want to make this world a better place, we need to become better people ourselves.

•It’s in our own interest for us to do everything we can for the well-being of all living creatures.

•The true enemy is within us and not outside.

•External hostilities aren’t permanent–and neither are those between China and Tibet. If you respect your enemies, they might become your friends one day.

HIS THOUGHT ON THE NEXT DALAI LAMA

Could the next Dalai Lama be a woman? You are for equal opportunity, aren’t you?

•Why not? Real equality and equal opportunity between women and men are critical for a better world. This is another area where all religions have some catching up to do. It’s a crucial aspect of secular ethics. And also a question of justice and compassion. Many women are ahead of us men in developing inner values.

INNER VALUES?

What do you mean by inner values?

•According to our biological nature, we are animals that thrive in an environment of compassion, caring, affection, and warm-heartedness.

•The essence of compassion is the desire to alleviate other’s suffering and promote their well-being.

•Women are somewhat better than us men when developing these inner values such as benevolence, patience, forgiveness, generosity, and tolerance. Major problems such as wars and environmental destruction or wasting resources are the primarily male problem.

•I don’t want to convert anyone, but I am mainly preoccupied with the desire to contribute to the good of humanity.

MINDFULNESS

Why is mindfulness so important in this day and age?

•Mindfulness is important whether a person is a believer or nonbeliever.

•Some scientists have found that peace of mind is vital for health. According to those medical scientists, anger, hatred, and fear eat up our immune systems.

•As I always say, there are seven billion human beings, and they all have the same potential.

•It always comes down to clarity of mind.

THE ESSENCE OF ALL RELIGIONS

What is the essence of all religions?
•Love! There is no question. People who believe in God, the creator, practice love. Many Christian brothers and sisters have really dedicated their lives to serving others, impoverished people. All of that comes out of the teachings of love.

•Loving our neighbor is more pleasant for all of us than hating what is different.

•We prefer other people to be generous as opposed to vicious.

•I am deeply convinced that we can all develop our inner values, which don’t contradict any religion, but which also–crucially–don’t depend on any religion.

•All true progress needs to be voluntary and freely chosen.

•In light of the problems of our time, it is no longer enough to ground ethics in religious values. Rather, it is time to clear a new path, aside from religion, to understand spirituality and ethics in the globalized world.

•Ethics is the study of happiness.

•We can learn that happiness is the outcome of inner maturity.

•There is much common ground between modern science and old religious values such as conscious compassion, loving benevolence, and mindfulness.

•Pope Benedict XVI was on the same page when he called for greater communication between faith and reason. Many thinkers and philosophers have long seen religions as more of an obstacle to the pursuit of knowledge–often rightly so–but today, this relationship is changing for the better.

A hundred years ago, humanity experienced the outbreak of World War One, which claimed 17 million lives, followed by 50 million dead in World War Two.

HAVE WE LEARNED FROM OUR MADNESS?

Do you believe humanity has learned from these disasters? Will the twenty-first century be the century of peace?

•Sure. I believe that people, especially Europeans, know the meaning of war. Many older people in Germany still remember quite clearly how destructive that was. The same goes for Japan. The desire for peace and the rejection of violence are powerful.

THE MOST IMPORTANT GOAL FOR THE YOUNGER GENERATION

What is the most important goal for the younger generation in the future?

•There are many opportunities to create a better world, to bring about a change in thinking: at the family level, the community level, the national level, or the international, global level. As I see it, we can achieve this primarily through education.

•Violent methods are outdated.

THE REUNITED NATIONS

In Berlin in fall 1989, ecstatic people lifted you onto the wall, which had just been opened up. You were carrying a candle and said, “just as Germany is being reunited now, Tibet will someday be free.” Do you still believe in that?

•Certainly. All people strive for freedom. We need patience.

What do you think about the relationship between China and Tibet in the long run? Are you optimistic? If so, why?

•Over the past few years, I have met several thousand Chinese–students, teachers, and business people, as well as intellectuals and writers. Many of them are really showing concern about Tibet and solidarity with us. Meanwhile, the top political leaders are becoming more realistic. Even communist leaders are now speaking favorably about Buddhism. So, things are changing. I am convinced that peace between China and Tibet is possible.

•After all, both of our peoples have lived alongside one another largely in peace for over two thousand years. I would like to help restore this state of affairs.

•The problems everywhere were made by humans. Therefore, humans can also solve the problems.

•True patience requires great inner strength. There are three aspects of patience: patience towards those who cause us suffering, acceptance of suffering, and acceptance of reality. This patience leads to a process of transformation and growth.

THE CURRENT STATUS OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN TIBET

What is the current status of human rights in Tibet?
•Difficult. Very Difficult. Among the Chinese officials, there are still many hard-liners holding important positions. These hard-liners believe they can solve all problems by force and repression. That is totally wrong and unrealistic. I have seen that, across the world, the use of force has never solved any problems.

•In the case of Tibet, they have now been using force for 60 years. But more force also brings more resistance.

•The people suffer immensely. Not in terms of starvation or such things, but anxiety, inordinate fear, too much sadness. That’s why these self-immolations happen.

During the past eight years, nearly 150 Tibetans have committed suicide by self-immolation.

What is your opinion of these acts of self-destruction?

•Of course, they are very, very sad. These are dramatic, drastic actions. I don’t know how much of an effect they have on the hard-liners. There is more anger, more repression, and their family members are arrested in several cases. It is a susceptible political issue. As of 2015, there are over two thousand political prisoners in Tibet…

•I prefer to keep quiet. When I talk, I stick to prayers, only prayers. I know people in the Chinese leadership are interested in that too.

When Tibet is free, how do you envision its future?
•Sooner or later, China will need to follow the worldwide trend towards democracy and freedom. In the long run, China cannot escape truth, justice, and freedom either.

•My hope and vision are for Tibet to become a demilitarized zone of peace and nonviolence between the two major powers of China and India.

•That is why I have a vision of transforming Tibet into an Ahimsa Zone—a zone of nonviolence—which includes a ban on the production, testing, and storing of nuclear and other weapons.

You have long accused China of a kind of “cultural genocide” in Tibet. What does that mean in concrete terms?
•From Eyewitness accounts, we know that 1.2 million Tibetans died between 1950 and 1983. Those 1.2 million include Tibetans who died in Chinese prisons or conflicts with Chinese troops or starved to death because of China’s failed economic policy in Tibet. Many also committed suicide out of desperation about the Chinese occupation.

•Today, there is a grave threat to the survival of Tibetan culture, language, religion, and Identity due to the massive influx of Han Chinese to Tibet and the systematic policy of discriminating against the Tibetan language and severely restricting the study and practice of Buddhism.

RETURNING TO TIBET

Do you see any chance of returning to Tibet?
•Oh yes, dear friend. Things are changing.

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THE DALAI LAMA: A life in date

•1935: On July 6, the future Dalai Lama was born to a farming family in the Tibetan village of Taktser and named Lhamo Dhondrub.

•At the age of two, he was recognized as the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama (“ocean of wisdom”), taken to Lhasa, and enthroned at age four and a half. As a Buddhist monk, he was given the name Tendzin Gyatso. At six, he begins his training in dialectics, Tibetan art and culture, linguistics, medicine, and Buddhist philosophy, his most important subject. He is considered to be the reincarnation of Chenrezig, the Buddha of compassion.

•1950: The Chinese people’s liberation army invaded Tibet and occupied the country. On November 17, the fifteen-year-old Dalai Lama took over the task of governing.

•1954: The Dalai Lama traveled to Beijing and participated in peace talks with Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and Deng Xiaoping.

•1959: On March 10, the Tibetans launched an uprising against foreign rule, provoking a bloody crackdown by the Chinese. Some 90,000 Tibetans lost their lives. The Dalai Lama fled to India and founded a government-in-exile in Dharamsala. Hundreds of thousands of Tibetans escaped the perils of their homeland and sought refuge worldwide, an exodus that is still ongoing.

•1966-1976: During China’s Cultural Revolution, almost all 6,000 monasteries were destroyed.

•1987: The Dalai Lama announced the “Middle Way.” According to this new approach, Tibet no longer sought independence from China but rather autonomy within the Chinese state, similar to the status of South Tyrol within Italy.

•1989: The Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo. the Nobel committee explained: “His Holiness has developed his philosophy of peace from a great reverence for all things living and upon the concept of universal responsibility embracing all mankind as well as nature.”

•2010: In early March, tens of thousands of Tibetans worldwide demonstrated against China’s violent occupation of the “Roof of the World.”

•2011: The Dalai Lama handed over the political leadership of Tibet to Lobsang Sangay, who had been elected prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile. The Dalai Lama wanted to be a “simple monk” even though many Tibetans accorded him godlike status.

•Between 2009 and April 2015, some 137 Tibetans committed self-immolation (suicide by burning) in protest against China’s repressive policies in Tibet.

•2015: A quote from one of his bodyguards: “I have nothing to do–everything loves him!”

Will the 14th Dalai Lama be the last?

He fears that China’s Communist Party would want to appoint the next Dalai Lama itself. He seeks to prevent that. In the past, high-ranking monks have identified the Dalai Lama as destroying “the normal order of Tibetan Buddhism.” In doing so, China’s Communist Party wants to move beyond controlling births and start controlling rebirths.

In reality, there is no doubt that after more than 60 years of communist rule over Tibet, almost all Tibetans honor the Dalai Lama as their religious leader and wish for his return.

.: About the Authors:

Dr. Franz Alt is a television journalist and best-selling author. Born in 1938 in Bruchsal, Germany, he studied political science, history, theology, and philosophy and completed his doctorate in 1967 with a dissertation on Konrad Adenauer.

His books have been translated into 12 languages, with editions numbering over 2.2 million copies. Frantz Alt gives talks worldwide and writes for 40 newspapers.

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is the spiritual leader of the Tibetan People and Tibetan Buddhism. He was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 1989 and the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal in 2007.

An Appeal to the world, his call for universal ethics as a way of peace. He sold more than 350,000 copies globally. In 2016 he published the New York Times bestseller, “The Book of Joy, coauthored with Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He lives in exile in Dharamsala, India.

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