Dialogue For a Better World: Remembering Francisco Varela

your your holiness dear guests my name is gabo karzai managing director of mind and life europe and it's a real privilege for us to have this opportunity to spend time with your holiness to have a discussion on dialogue for a better world remembering our friend francisco varela i would also like to greet all friends here members and friends of the mind and life family in europe in the us and globally thank you all for joining and i would like to welcome everybody who is following us live on youtube or any other platform it was 20 years ago on may 28 2001 when our dear friend co-founder of mind and life francisco varela passed away mind and life europe europe is paying tribute to him this year with a number of events including the webinar series francisco and friends an embodiment of relationship that we are starting today with this meeting we know that your holiness developed and maintained a very special relationship with francisco varela leading to the creation of mind and life today we would like to invite you to remember him and the great work you initiated together or panelists in the discussion with your holiness are amico and varela a clinical psychologist chair of the board at mind and life europe pia luigi luizi professor emeritus of biochemistry at the federal institute of technology in turi helena antonova a senior lecturer in psychology at bruno university london and tuptan jinpala your holiness principal english translator chair of the board at mind and life institute we will have six main questions today but before starting our discussion with luigi we would like to show your holiness some photos from the meetings you had with francisco varela and all other friends let's remember those days together thank you for taking the time to look at these photos and uh great memories and now i would like to invite luigi to start the discussion with you your holiness i guess done luigi please unmute yourself luigi please unmute yourself sound sound yes luigi please okay do you hear me now yeah wonderful i was saying that i had the privilege to be present at the meeting in 1983 in alpbac austria where you and francisco varela met for the first time it was a great meeting probably the first in the world on science and spirituality a great atmosphere of love and friendships among all participants and in this atmosphere of friendship we notice we admire the flourishing of a new friendship the one between you and francisco varela a friendship who which was very beneficial to all of us but from these the first question what was that made this friendship what was that attract you to have this profound relation with a young scientist who at that time was not even very famous in the world so why this friendship what is the origin of that since my was a very very young age childhood i have interest about mechanics and and then i have one sort of a small movie project projector which which belongs to the lama so i develop curiosity there are small battery in in the in the movie projector so how to produce electricity okay some small motor moving then light also the electricity come so i develop some sort of interest electricity you see what is the nature of electricity and then the certain sort of material moving then electricity develop so i have some keen interest meantime of course the from childhood i study buddhist philosophy so then when i met virala jihi one way he is scientist but at the same time he also sort of showing his deep interest about the buddhism so often he mentioned when we discuss when a subject about buddhism then he say now i have the buddhist cap then say something about buddhism buddhist philosophy then he he he say now cape of science scientist then he mentioned about science so i noticed that person is something uh really i need who have some knowledge or interest about buddhist philosophy buddhist armor at the same time profession as a scientist so then i also you see i think eventually i also you see uh pattern his also way when i speak about buddhist philosophy buddhist logic buddhist cap then of all science particularly the mental science science of mind particularly emotion then my head buddhist a head or more tigger so so i my lifetime he one of the person who really uh very much impressed me and i always remember him so this picture always in in my room i always keep this picture so then as a buddhist we believe life after life because this is this logical approach the every phenomena which moving changing there must be causes so this physical naturally causes uh then with this brain brain alone this is not so much sophisticated i think our mind human mind is very very sophisticated oh we can think how we can meditate we can change through sorrow as a day meditation it changed our mind and through that way it bring really inner peace so now eventually i developed a positive meeting with a lot of scientists and when we talk it seems science from west western world or religion is christianity mainly and some extent islam and judaism but not much talk about a human mind about human emotion in order to tackle our emotion we should have fuller knowledge about the whole system of emotion or mind so now as you see later varela you see showed me science and buddhist faith can go side by side so i now actually i follow the pattern of late virala so uh so we uh believe life after life i'm quite sure very lost and next life i'm quite sure among some of my close friends family i'm quite sure so whether he can recognize me or there's some mentally some close feeling must be there because of past life sort of experience since my my own case when i was very young to three years old some people who are working with 13 dalai lama when they come i recognize so we are same same human being of course some karmic link and some i think the mental uh ability there are some differences otherwise we are same human being uh same sentence being within certain being we are same human being then uh as viral believe you say dharma so life after life definitely some connection and since within this life we develop some special assay connection so i'm quite sure perhaps within if i remain another 20 years i may meet one child who express something special whatever possible possible so like that so i uh so i today i'm very very uh happy and proud to discuss something about my long time old friend and with the various wife yeah so so thank you thank you thank you very much thank you the subject dialogue for a better world this subject very essential very important without today's world in spite many material development but material development including weapon oh you see too much emphasis my nation my country oh so today many leaders are you see very much thinking about their own nation so when another human a group create showing some different views or different attitude then we easily call them our enemy oh among the scientists uh genuine scientists they mainly concerned about a human being not my nation or my religious group like varela so so therefore uh now today the world in spite many material development but mentally emotionally this is too much thinking we we i i uh that creates uh ocd my friend my enemy so you see we uh too much emphasis emotional emotional level we and the day uh this uh thinking broadly speaking oh we can change that one of my commitment is oneness of seven billion human being we all same human being and practically also we have to live together on this small planet and then economy also now global economy oh there's no national foundry national boundary the east depend west northern world depend southern world that's now reality we have to live it together oh our economy uh you see interdependent in economy field you cannot sort of count national basis oh or then on top of that now climate condition now global level or climate becoming warmer or more warmer so these uh i say give us some kind of pressure now we have to work together not talking my nation their nation we must talk oneness of seven billion human beings then a lot of in previous century uh at the beginning of this century two minutes sort of violence or on the basis of nation my nation my nation i all often use in mentioning look european union france german you see first world war second world war really arch enemy but after second world war then under the leadership of ardana or the goal and they realize now no use will kill each other we have to work together so mainly these as far as i know mainly these two person initiated european union so since the european union develop no longer any killing among the member state so at one continent uh you see in in two centuries killing fighting now under new circumstances now they develop union so why not we eventually the whole world or some kind of union or instead of saying uh my nation my nation but rather we we we so that's my my own commitment and there's no other choice i become refugee so you see i live in india you see no longer my nation but india of course through century we have some special connection so i always consider india we have a special connection in any way our neighbor country all our knowledge of much knowledge come from india so therefore feeding we are same with this feeling in india also you see i feel this is ancient our home all uh philosophical philosophical knowledge these things come from india so therefore the feeling of oneness is really gives me comfortable and also you see wherever i go different country different continent i always carry with the feeling same human being so wherever i go i always smile smile i feel same human brothers sisters so according my own experience you see the concept oneness of same human being of this planet really gives you inner peace no longer fear no longer distrust religion is second so also the second level whether believe religion or not within religion believe in this religion that religion still religion of human being so we should emphasize oneness of 7 billion human being so [Music] so now my commitment number one commitment is promotion of concept of oneness of seven billion human being the second commitment is all religion in spite different philosophy different belief all carry same message message of loving kindness so they use different philosophy different concept in order to keep compassion compassionate feeling so all religion different philosophy the same purpose to develop a firm conviction about warm warm-heartedness like that then my another commitment is ecology within my own lifetime or in tibet uh the older generation you see they say when they were young they during winter those higher mountain around also a lot of snow then decade by decade you see reduce so now the climate things are changing now we must uh think oneness of human being and tibet his source of water almost whole asia those big river yangtze river or mekong river or barbaputra all these major rivers which uh or say uh several billions life depend on these water so oh now climate change uh really very serious now we have to think the the tribal case is we have to we have to also try to keep tibetan ecology for water sources of almost whole asia like that so now okay now next question now some questions yes yes [Music] thank you very much your holiness um francisco varela and your holiness started mind and life with the great help of our good friend adam engel you organized and participated in so many dialogues dialogues being a principle for creating a sense of oneness between human beings and these dialogues that you started with varela and engel created a whole new field of research my question is given all of your responsibilities why have you decided to spend so much time over many years five days a week sitting with scientists and and scholars and what benefits do you think that this work has brought to the world firstly i am buddhist my daily sort of practice is thinking all sentient beings happiness so on my day-to-day basis um you know one of my daily practices saying some aspirational prayers and one of my most you know sort of you know favorite prayer is the one by shandy deva which reads some of you are familiar as long as space remains as long as sentient beings remain may i to remain and help dispel the sufferings of the world and similarly um nagarjuna's precious garland where he talks about you know making an aspiration of prayer that may i be like the great elements of the natural world so that the sentient beings can you know partake and be derived benefit from my existence so this is the kind of prayers that i do so on my part on a day-to-day basis one of the things that i always think about is in my own way in humble way whatever help i can bring to the world for the sentient beings i should devote my life to that oh so uh in my own daily practice um given that tuptenjim is here i'll speak few words in tibetan in my own daily practice some of the key elements that i emphasize one of which is a cultivation of awakening mind which is part of what is called the vast practice then the other one is the profound view coming from the nagarjuna's teachings and in the buddhichita the awakening mind practice one of the elements that are aspects that i really emphasize is that transmission coming from shanti deva the teaching coming from shantideva which involves equalizing and exchanging of self and others where you really cultivate an attitude or caring for others well-being and chandra deva says that you know if one is not able to switch the perception of self and others and be concerned about others well-being and let alone attend mental buddhahood even in this life there will be no real joy no real happiness and then he goes on to say that therefore you know by you know riding the the sort of the horse of uh buddhist awakening mind you know someone can travel from a place of joy to joy you know what intelligent wise person would not want to empower on such journey so on the opposite side he goes on to say that if you look at all the miseries in the world sufferings in the world they're all rooted in self-centered attitude and all the happiness that are in the world really are rooted in altruistic aspirations and intention and this really seems to be really true because if you think about all the problems that we see in the world a lot of them are rooted in self-centeredness starting from big i and me and then as you expand that it becomes my country and my people and this me and mine is really what creates all that division and division then creates the conflicts so at this point in our history of humanity you know let let's you know let us keep aside the possibility of you know caring for all sentient beings but at least we should be able to develop an attitude that would include in our identity all human beings thinking in terms of we the human being and in this way you know once we're able to develop that kind of affinity with our fellow human beings and think in more collective terms of us as human species human beings then we will be able to really change the way we behave and change the way we think and also begin to really avoid harming others thank you your holiness oh yeah what an inspiring vision um i think elena has a question your holiness um as you've mentioned francisco varela was very interested in buddhism not only as a method or for disciplined self-inquiry but as a way of enriching our scientific understanding of the mind and as amy noted the the dialogues between science and first-person experience that both your holiness and francisco varela gave so much time to have created the new field of contemplative science my question is your holiness have this dialogues with science affected your own thinking and possibly your buddhist practice and if so how i briefly mentioned since my childhood i have some keen interest for science technology now eventually i reached india a number of occasion meeting with scientists and then it become quite clear modern scientists their knowledge about human emotion very little human mind very little so therefore uh even you know the uh emotion the word emotion uh the simply one word emotion emotion according buddhist sorrow was the psychology or buddhist or text about mind emotion um um so one of the things is that for example um you know when you converse with western scientists contemporary scientists you know we all agreed that you know emotion is very important because emotion is often the source of a lot of our problems um but then the word emotions seem to conjure this somewhat monolithic uh entity but compared to that if you look at the buddhist equivalent of psychology such as abu dharma then there's a much more kind of you know granular description of our experience for example in the abhidharma taxonomy one of the lists one of the taxonomy lists uh 51 such mental factors and within the 51 among the 51 there are separate categories for example the five factors that are omnipresent to every experience and you know and and so on and so forth including categories that are you know more afflictive in nature so you know we can see there's a much more granular sort of more detailed understanding of our experience and this i think is very important because we all agree that emotion is often a source of our problem and within emotion you know if we are if we are to seek techniques to regulate and and deal with our emotions then we need in we need to ground that approach in a deeper fine understanding of the world of emotion as we experience them and within emotion there are certain types of emotions which are more afflictive in their nature which are more destructive as they arise and then what are their antidotes you know how can we apply those antidotes similarly they're within the world of motion they are more constructive ones such as loving kindness compassion and so on and so forth then we can ask the question what is their nature how can we cultivate them and enhance them so in this way i think we can make some progress through the through the conversation and collaboration and in buddhism for example even though as a spiritual path there is a role for faith an important role for faith but in buddhism you know a faith needs to be grounded in understanding so wisdom has to underpin the faith so if one's conviction that arises in the dharma has to be grounded in understanding and wisdom so this is one of the reasons why i often say that the approach in buddhism the general approach is actually quite similar to the way in which you know a scientist would approach a problem or a topic any foreign a [Music] um um oh so um if we if you look at um you know our human aspirations um you know we all aspire for a good health and and science has clearly been very important in that regard you know science you know has given us amazing knowledge about the human body and health and and also you know science has also given us extensive knowledge about the physical world that we live in and you know the relationship between our human uh life and the physical environment and so on and so forth so uh that the experience of happiness that we seek at the level of body experience you know to a large extent science is able to fulfill it but if you look deeper into human aspirations our aspirations are really you know not just about physical well-being or economic prosperity but actually as human beings we aspire for happiness we aspire for peace we aspire for a genuine joy and and those really need to come needs to come from the mind itself it is really something that can only arise you know by taking care of our mind and just as we briefly talked about how emotion is often the source of problem but also the solution to the problem of emotion sadness unhappiness really lies also within the human mind itself and that techniques that solution would require a deep understanding of how the mind works you know and having a fine you know sort of differentiation at the level of the mind for example let's take anger as an example anger is often a source of problem for many of us but anger we cannot wish it away by praying may anger do not arise in me anger can only be tackled by looking at the nature of anger what are the what are the triggers for anger for me what are the causes and conditions and how does it arise and then also reflecting upon its you know destructive consequences if i do not you know regulate my anger what are the consequences that lead to and in these way we begin to have something in the form of a kind of an antidote against anger similarly on the positive side we admire loving kindness compassion and so forth and these also you know we cannot simply wish that they arise in us you know we need to cultivate them and also part of the cultivation would involve you know contemplating deeply on the value and the benefits of these constructive emotions in us how something like loving kindness and compassion opens our heart and lays the foundation for a healthy relationship and how that promotes not just a peace of mind and joy but also even a physical health you know on the contrary we know anger can also undermine our physical health so learning in these ways you would involve having a deep self-inquiry and understanding of our own mind through a kind of a first person approach so here you know i really agree with varela because in the end you know a genuine happiness a true joy is going to be a function of wisdom you know that is arrived derived from understanding one's own mind and and it's working so varela often talks about how if we are to truly create a world where human beings are happy it needs to combine both science and spiritual you know approach and this i think is true um so one of my really interest is really not so much to promote you know spirituality as a religious teaching but really to see if we can bring it in a more secular format particularly in the education field because we know from personal experience and also in contemporary secular education systems we know children go through education we know children can train their brain you know develop their intellectual capacity uh even you know strengthen their memory capacity to you know memorize a lot of stuff and so forth so a lot of these are already being done but in the in the indian tradition the ancient indian tradition there are also quite a lot of emphasis on the training of the mind for example in you know we just in the indian indian and tibetan tradition we speak of uh different aspects or forms of intel intelligence so there is the swift intelligence where some people are able to think through very fast then there is a penetrating uh intelligence where people are able to go through deep into kind of you know into a topic uh in a deep inquiry and there is also what is known as the vast intelligence where one is able to approach a topic in a much more horizontal way in in a comprehensive approach so there are mental training which really help us enhance these different aspects of of our intellect so uh and and these have nothing to do with the religion and and so clearly these are secular you know universal forms of education and indian tradition is very rich in this regard so my one of my you know hope is and and also also we know that as human beings because of the special brain that we have we have natural capacities for many of these but those can be enhanced through training so one of the hopes that i have is that once um the whole world begins to come out of the current pandemic situation one you know hope that i have is to spend some time in delhi new delhi uh where i will have the opportunity to sit down with you know quite a lot of uh professors from different universities and really sort of focus on this question of how can we tap into the ancient indian knowledge tradition and extract aspects of their mental training that can help enhance these you know aspects that we are talking about and which can then be brought in a more secular format in the education um you know for the for the younger generation itself yeah yeah next question next next question um your holiness somehow somehow related to the question of mind is the interest of francisco varela to bring the personal experience of the scientists into the picture and understanding of science itself and i believe it is interesting that some aspects of modern science like quantum mechanics for example shows in a very dramatic way how important is the action and mind of the experimental scientists into the so-called results and these kind of personal um influence it was felt very much in all our mind life dialogues and certainly science has responded a lot and the question that i would like to ask you uh as science expands also our questions you know increase is there any particular science questions that you would like to see answer fully by scientists in the next time is there something that you really would like in terms of science to be explained i don't know consciousness or anything more practical [Music] uh so [Music] as a result of several decades of my dialogue with scientists one impression that i got from these dialogues is that contemporary modern science western science as it stands um is heavily oriented towards kind of a material vision of the world in fact the whole field of study the object of study and inquiry is really modeled on material objects material material phenomena including even when we talk about human experience brain is the main you know object of study um and and the activity of the brain the chemistry of the brain so it's all about the brain um and there is hardly any attempt to really understand what is supported by the brain which is the experience part of it which is you know whether we call it consciousness mind or and the interesting thing about that phenomenon is that actually if you don't take into account the subjectivity the subjective dimension of the felt experience of consciousness looking at the brain alone which is the basis of that experience i don't think it's going to give us a full picture so because our scientific paradigm and the entire approach will be still confined within a material paradigm which is always you know kind of presupposes some kind of measurability observation from outside um you know all of this and it will leave out what is the unique characteristic of consciousness or mind which is the felt subjective dimension so i i think here the science as it stands now doesn't seem to have a way of approaching this and here i feel the ancient indian tradition which has a very rich mind science and a large part of that description is really from the subjective taking into account the subjective dimension i think can contribute so my hope is that gradually science will be able to get a handle because we're not talking about rebirth we're not talking about religion religious ideal religious belief we are essentially talking about our everyday experience of all human beings you know all human beings wish to have a peace of mind we seek joy and including you know when we think about the you know joy or global peace or individual personal peace or peace and happiness at the family level or the society level ultimately all boils down to a state of mind you know whether a state of mind is disturbed dominated by negative emotions which leads to all sorts of problems or whether state of mind is peaceful calm and compassionate which then give rise to another set of consequences so it all hangs on really the state of mind of society human beings individuals so my hope is that you know eventually science would be able to really tackle that and find a way to not only explain but also show you know uh come up with some programs at in the schools where children it will become part of the normal education where children learn skills about cultivating peace in their mind happiness compassion and these qualities which are really important for human human life so that's that's my wish and my hope next question your holiness embodies a delicate balance of analytical and contemplative approach to the first person inquiring to the nature of mind um and as your holiness recounted francisco varela too wore both hats and very comfortably young scientists who are interested in contemplative science often find it challenging to combine the analytical method and contemplative experience without a conflict both professionally and personally my question is would your holiness have any advice for the young scientists on how they can use their analytical skills and also open themselves up to contemplative experience [Music] uh but is you know scientists are also human beings like all of us and just as all of us scientists also have problems of emotion as human beings scientists also wish for finding a peace in their mind so i think you know one thing that would be important for the scientist is to really just um pay attention to the need important need of finding an inner peace and the inner peace really needs to be cultivated and part of that would involve a self-inquiry and getting some kind of experiential understanding of your own mind so i think those are probably the ways in which you know one could say that the analytic approach and the more contemplative approach can come together because the the contemplative approach helps the analytic approach and also the analytic approach also help you know contemplative approach as well and and maybe this is the reason why you know over the years as our dialogues kind of you know continue we are beginning to see more and more scientists actually taking serious professional interest in the whole question of mental well-being and also mind-based approach to cultivating mental well-being so this is a consequence of these kind of dialogues where there is an appreciation of the need for some kind of mind-based approach um so and and part of that is really a self-inquiry for example as i said earlier you know if anger is a problem that you know disturbs our peace of mind then you know through a self-inquiry we look at the nature of anger how does it arise what are the triggers for me and then find a way to approach it and then also use important you know for example like shantideva uses um you know important shifts in our perspective for example one of the uh in one of his uh chapters in in guide to the buddhist way he talks about you know in dealing with our strong emotional negative emotion towards our what we call anger enemy or adversary he actually says that from the point of view of cultivating patients anger is your best teacher so instead of feeling resentful you should feel grateful towards your enemy giving you the opportunity to practice patience so when you you know think about it it really shifts you know turns your normal attitude and perspective upside down and that kind of jolts your mind and it opens up a new way of seeing uh you know your the other person so it is in these ways actually you know a real change can take inside um ourselves in today so another aspect of this kind of inquiry also should involve although the teaching is coming from buddhist sources i'm talking about the teaching on emptiness one of the important aspects of that inquiry needs to involve a willingness to deeply question what do we what is it that when i think of i and me am i referring to what is that i and me which we feel so strongly because when we feel strong emotions such as anger or attachment it is you know premised upon an assumption of there being a real me for who's sick you are reacting emotionally so uh in in in the buddhist text for example in nagajuna's precious garland he actually suggests that we go through a self-inquiry that involves you know probing deeply into each of the constitutive elements that make up our existence you know in terms of the six elements and so on and so forth and then ask which one is the real me and once you you know dissect in this way and rule out each and every single candidate then you get to a point where there is no such thing as me and similarly in nagajuna's treaties in the on the middleway in one of the chapters he uses the same analysis in deconstructing the concept of the buddha tatakata but we can use that to refer to ourselves and analyze the relationship between you know our self and our body mind and the various other constitutive elements that make up our existence and ask whether each one of them is it the relationship is it the combination you know so when you do that you get to a point where what we already previously assumed to be really solid real you know undisputable is not really there we cannot find anything that we can point our finger and say that is the real me and you know that is the true self so once you uh do that it really sort of opens up and so what what is needed is a two pronged approach one is looking at the negative emotions themselves the afflictions such as attachment and anger and you know contemplating their destructive consequences in this way and then applying their specific antidotes but at the same time you should also as part of that approach um you know do this inquiry into questioning the assumption underlying our strong negative emotions which is this belief in a real solid me that is out that is objectively there and so in this way you know we are kind of undermining the very basis upon which we ground our strong negative emotions so in i i think so when you do this way uh it really has an impact um you know opening opening up and also lessening the strong negative emotions that we don't that tends to dominate our reaction to situations [Music] um um oh so um so earlier i forgot uh something that is olin has mentioned um he talked about how having conversations with some quantum physicist the quantum physicists were also telling him that through quantum mechanical understanding quantum mechanics and the logic behind it it also makes it very difficult to assume an objective reality that is out there and it seems to suggest that we could use a similar type of a deconstructive process so that you know the very basis upon which we ground our strong attitudes like my enemy my my my loved one that strong attachment and strong uh you know sort of uh anger towards our enemy can be sort of you know undermined by questioning the very assumption behind these negative emotions so so what this is pointing to is that if you look at many of the strong emotions that will cause us problems a lot of these strong emotions are really arise and they come up from a kind of a false projection of certain attributes to the person or the to the object so this because the projection is false by using the wisdom almost like a sword you can you know demolish the the construct that we project onto the object so this i think is is is true imagine if you take your strong emotions like attachment and anger as an object of sort of your opponent in a debate and ask them say you know where is this self for who's sake that you are being so strong so emotional you know where is that and then if you keep asking questions at some point you can reveal to the strong emotions that there is no such thing as a self that they have been grasping with such strong grip and then the the negative emotions would say would be would feel embarrassed and they would say maybe i was kidding so you know so we can see how you know by using the logic of emptiness we can actually you know deeply question the assumptions behind many of these grasping that we have and here for example in um chandra 50's uh entering the middle way he offers a series of you know arguments which really challenges these these deep assumptions to the point where we almost feel as if there is no such thing as self you know where where am i and then the question is does that mean i do not exist but then chanting the concern to say you know it's not that we are non-existent but our existence is only a function of dependent origination so he's sort of you know bringing both sort of a more a realistic understanding of what we mean by existence but also demonstrating the false aspects of the objective reality that we attribute and so these you know when we think along these lines they are really truly powerful in their impact on challenging many of the assumptions that often underpin our you know strong emotions which lead us to trouble with um so for example there are two passages in uh kenti's entering the middle way which really gives me both hope as well as courage and these two passages actually in the form of a summary shows how by cultivating insight into the nature of you know reality and including ourselves as well as cultivating the the conventional aspect of our everyday experience and through the combination of the knowledge of these you know both conventional truth and the ultimate truth which he compares to the two wings of a bird will then be able to cruise across the space of reality and arrive at the destiny destination which is the attainment of full enlightenment and you know uh and so he's really pointing out the path to attaining a true succession a true lasting peace and these kind of passages give me both hope as well as courage as well next question your holiness i have a question about friendship and dialogue and change friendship and dialogue were very important to varela and to your holiness the many mind and life dialogues have demonstrated that communication across traditions and across cultures can be cultivated the crises and issues we are facing today are so global that we must think and work together as a human collective my question is how can mind and life further promote a sense of common humanity as well as the depth of interaction that is necessary for true connection and effective action foreign so um here when i talk about the oneness of humanity um you know i'm not specifically thinking about you know from the buddhist point of view we are really thinking about the broader world and and here you know my own approach and and and emphasis is really to uh bring out the practical uh need of the concept of oneness of humanity reminding ourselves the fact that you know whether we like it or not you know we're all sharing this one small planet and also another important fact is that you know our world that we are living in is truly interconnected interdependent so in this in this interdependent world then you know too much division based on strong our us and strong them is really mutually not beneficial mutually destructive and no one really wins through this kind of strong division-based you know uh being in the world in in this interconnected world on the other hand if we are willing to embrace this oneness of humanity show affinity to people who are different from us then we really have a chance to rise above the differences and also you know create a world where both sides benefit both sides have a chance to live a more peace peaceful life so this is this is the approach i use and i think you know for the larger world you know this is also a question of survival um you know because survival depends upon people getting along with each other in this interconnected world so that you know emphasizing the practical nature and the urgent need is is a more effective strategy and according theosic religion you should all believe god creator so so that's god truly our father who creates whole world whole humanity so uh from that viewpoint we are children of same father god so if we children from same father among the children fighting or killing how feel our father so god as a creator and our father you see all children of one god if we live happily together then father feel happy so the the from the a theoristic religious viewpoint we should live a friendly uh and harmony yesterday so that's the best way to offer what's a worship to god so a muslim either muslim or hindus or christians or judaism and all believe one god so we have to live happily with sense of brotherhood sisterhood because we all came from one father okay thank you very much your holiness i'm going to pass the mike to gabor karsai now to sum up for us today your holiness uh this was the last question thank you so much and we could not end on a better note and thank you so much for your wisdom for your care and for your friendship a friendship can open up a lot of doors mind and life was born from a friendship between your holiness and francisco varela and adam mango a new field of study a whole new field contemplative science was born from a friendship so maybe a different world can be born from friendships too and thank you so much for being a leading example of becoming our friends thank you thank you very much as i mentioned earlier i really hoping uh within my lifetime the reincarnation of late uh virala i think i may meet i really feel thank you thank you thank you thank you your holiness thank you your holiness thank you thank you you

Channel: Dalai Lama

Views: 14,696

Rating: 4.9418759 out of 5

Keywords: dalai, lama, dialogue, better, world, francisco, varela, mind, life, europe, online, residence, dharamsala, india, 2021

Id: D3nyIc_-tLQ

Length: 97min 34sec (5854 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 09 2021