The O-town Scene - Oneonta, NY
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Yoga Life By Ashok Kumar Malhotra Dalai Lama Teaches 'Compassionate Humanism' Religion for the Dalai Lama means "being motivated by compassion and love, while respecting the rights of others." The quintessence of religion is to serve others rather than to dominate them. At the core of the Dalai Lama's philosophy is "compassionate humanism." Here, the emphasis is on one's kind nature: compassionately serving others continuously. For the Dalai Lama, the real nature of the human mind is to be pure and empty. It is like the blue sky. The clouds can temporarily envelop it, but pass without leaving any trace behind. Likewise, emotions of fear, aggressiveness, anger and jealousy might produce agitations in the mind, but like the clouds, they do not touch its purity. The mind's nature is clear light. Defilements are superficial! As we contemplate the authentic nature of the mind, we will discover it to be compassion, meaning "an intense desire to serve others in order to alleviate their suffering." Dalai Lama suggests a practical downto-earth method to nurture compassion towards others: 1. Say goodbye to enmity: Visualize a friend, an enemy and a neutral person. Ask yourself the questions: "What does attract me toward this person?" "What does repel me about this individual?" and "What does keep me neutral of feelings towards this person?" Now envision each of them to be a human being who seeks happiness and avoids pain. Accept each one as equal in seeking of happiness and avoidance of pain. Place this feeling of equality in your mind and nurture it continuously until it becomes part of your mindset and the entire being. 2. Contemplate change: Visualize friends, enemies and neutral people to change constantly never staying in any one of these states for long. Imagine each one to be transforming and becoming its opposite. The one to whom you love becomes the one you hate; the one to whom you hate becomes the one towards whom you are neutral and the one toward whom you are neutral becomes the one to whom you love. Decide not to single out any one 14 O-Town Scene August 1, 2013 Associated Press Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama gestures before delivering a sermon during a religious congregation at the Dzongar Chodhe Monastery in Gurupura southwest of Bangalore, India, on July 12. for one kind of treatment! Below are the Dalai Lama's seven meditative steps to living compassionate humanism: 1. Create positive inclination towards others 2. Remember the kindness showered on you by members of the family and friends 3. Inculcate kindness towards others 4. Acknowledge others' suffering. Take sympathetic-empathetic attitude towards other's pain by learning to love them 5. Cultivate the desire to alleviate other's suffering. Release others of suffering by enhancing their happiness 6. Make a total commitment towards altruism 7. Make love and compassion towards others as a way of life Dr. Ashok Kumar Malhotra's work through the Ninash Foundation to build schools for the female and minority children of India earned him a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. His program on "Yoga for Relaxation" is shown at 9 a.m. Saturdays on the Public Access Channel 23. His articles are condensed from his books, available at amazon. com and www.info@ ideaIndia.com.