The Purpose of Life

good morning to his holiness and to all our audience joining us today from various parts of the world today i miss this pandemic it's rather an auspicious day for me and all our audience to have with us his holiness the 14th dalai lama the living gotha amongst us his holiness is rightly regarded as the manifestation of the bodhisattva of compassion and the highest spiritual leader of tibetan buddhism with great honor and trustee i would like to greet this foreigner on behalf of texas iit bombay and all our audience his holiness we have always considered yourself as the son of india and have worked towards revival of ancient indian wisdom in the context of the same i request you to enlighten us with your views on how we can combine ancient indian knowledge with the modern education system and how we could give education a more moral touch and make it more impactful so firstly [Music] namaste oh i really feel also very happy because now india to over a thousand years uh the concert of ahimsa concept of karuna you see in this country you see these two very important also they concept develop with that eventually you see a lot of philosophy and including logic so so later those great indian thinkers philosopher you see they carry the message of himself and karuna through logical way so now today of course i respect all tradition because i fully committed promotion of religious harmony and also the harmony in different people like that so therefore i respect all different tradition but if we uh through a logical approach investigation then the india's is a thousand-year-old this is a concept very logical now or practically today's world really need ahimsa and karuna if these two things you see remain also alive and more people you see pay attention then our world much sort of peaceful much better so therefore and then india's also you see important thing is uh secular so this concept related with some dharma but then not necessarily you see you should follow or believe dharma religion whether believe certain things or not it's up to individual generally we really need the secular ethics so these uh two things ahimsa garuna is actually the secular ethics and then the karuna and ahimsa is a further what's a day or city then different religious tradition different philosophy is involved so now today i feel great honor to speak with people who actually belong this country so we are actually follow follower or student of this ancient indian thought i always described in thousand years ago you see you are our guru we are chella you see we learn uh from india oh well the seventh century the tibetan uh king he married with chinese princess and also also firstly chinese introduce chinese or the emperor introduce buddhism in tibet but the tibetan he marry with chinese was a princess and also you see the most stressful i mean important schedule buddha statue and picture that one you see brought from china but it seems you see the tibetan emperor assange combo 7th century certainly he enjoyed that marriage and but he has a feel too tired to learn chinese letter too complicated so he in spite marriage and very close link he determined he want to develop our own uh because it's a script tibetan script copy from indian devanagari and alphabet like that so then eighth century when you say buddhism introduced tibet by nalandra master shandar rakshita the eighth century that again tibetan emperor how he decide buddhism is concerned must bring from directly from india not through china uh and then the tibetan emperor chisholm he invited at that time one of the top master of nalendra chandra rashida very old but he invited then rashida reached tibet he advised to emperor since you have your own language your own script so now should translate uh from sanskrit or from bali so on so then eventually you see uh was it the tibetan uh buddhist tradition uh very much they was a day or day we extensively use logical approach so the knowledge tradition even buddha himself you see made clear all my followers monks nuns should not accept my teaching out of faith but rather thorough investigation so he you see show us the x or cd investigation logical approach is important so the nalindra master like nagarjuna and arya sangha and digna dharma kitty chanda kriti bhutapalita all these nalandra mastra you see their sort of way of thinking always investigate even buddha's own word if you find some uh difficult to to accept because some illogical then we have the right to reject buddha's own word like nagarjuna reject some buddha's own word that's something great uh so so so the this the concept of secular the some some sort of what's today philosophical things or logical things uh which mentioned in buddhist texts you should consider academic subject rather than just using oh this is part of buddhism or taught by buddha we must accept not that way so therefore you see the indians concept the secular way so consider all these subjects as a academic subject not religious subject so religion individual matter but this knowledge is knowledge for everybody particularly now today's world these ancient indian knowledge uh was it based on karuna ahimsa these world need oh so a different religion there's personal matter but these concepts are something relevant for humanity so i'm very very happy uh having this uh yesterday meeting and then half joke over thousand years we as a chella of indian guru now today indian guru i think much negligent decent knowledge so now uh traditional in indian guru indian gurus uh channel now have to act like guru [Laughter] so in any way now real sort of point is the now today's world uh a lot of problem many problem essentially human beings our own creation you see nobody want problem you know why we create a lot of problem the reason you see our thinking wise or related with ahimsa karuna so therefore now uh this time the thousand-year-old indians sort of thought garuna ahimsa now must was the not only preserve must revive and on the basis of secular way other country you see a different tradition christianity uh islam judaism and so on that's their personal religion but as far as concept of ahimsa and karuna is concerned is common common for every human being so now i always feel india in modern time now look india i think two most populated nation china and india this country comparatively very peaceful and all major religious tradition lived together in this land for example you see in muslim country shia and sunni fighting in this country uh i never heard problem between indian shia and sunni like that i never heard when i heard a neighboring country some problem between shia and sunni i surprised so therefore the india's thousand-year-old tradition you see ahimsa garuna is a really basis of happy society happy country so now india should also pay more attention and show rest of the world the religious harmony and in according principle of ahimsa and karuna so now our indian brother sisters is it now in previous century mahatma gandhi you see show world himsa now i think we follow that and combined with karuna and then secular way you see these different philosophical sort of aussie day ideas now india's now uh philosophy is nothing exists objectively independently it is very close very close of thinking the casa quantum physics oh quantum physics you see quantum physicist they say and nothing ap nothing exists as appears the external thing material thing so there is a big gap appearance and reality there's a quantum physicist they say that's very important you see most of the negative emotion such as anger or jealousy too much attachment you see these is it based on appearances so uh in order to reduce these negative strong emotion which based on appearances thinking deeper line then nothing exists as appears that's exactly the indian uh sort of in ancient philosophy you see mentioned that like late raja ramana once he told me the quantum physics in the west it is new but this country he told me over 2000 years ago already developed the quantum physics and then he recite some nagarjuna's uh or some verses of nagarjuna's text it's very true very true so india uh in these deeper level in order to tackle emotion a subtle way i think india's tradition is very useful very helpful and meantime on secular way so now that i always see now telling these days for example for example hygiene or physical already exist on this planet much sort of developed now hygiene of emotion only india's tradition including other religion also this other religion not much talk about you say yeah what's it a a mental uh harshly uh casamay as i mentioned earlier uh now the world really uh facing some crisis about emotion so in in such sort of case india's thousand-year-old year old tradition can help through education way not religiously strictly based on secular so one of my commitment is revival of this ancient indian knowledge how to take care of peace of mind on the basis of ahimsa and the karuna now i am sort of fully committed revival of these ancient indian knowledge or secular way so so now questions no questions any question thank you so much for the answer and uh for the first question i would like to invite sheidenhair from delhi technological university in india to ask him questions greetings and swoliness my question is although the purpose of education is to gain knowledge although the purpose of education is to gain knowledge i can't just help thinking of marks when i see others going higher how do we aim for gaining knowledge from the education refraining from succumbing to the competition the sense of competition you see actually uh two kind one you see in order to promote knowledge among students among people you see you try to be first stop and show them and to pursue them uh that kind of competition is positive oh another negative competition in order to you become first actually create a problem to other or try to kasuda behind that's wrong so every human action is a much depend on motivation since uh sincere motivation compassionate motivation combined with a wider perspective then sometimes action appears a little bit negative but because of motivation and utilize the velocity wisdom so then could be very positive very helpful okay so competition is necessary particularly when we uh of the study or the hostility philosophy or logic the including myself when i uh carry final examination there's some kind of ocd uh i i should be first and other i said they try to sometimes to see even cleverness a little bit cheating also so these are basically you should sense motivation and good purpose no problem okay and you see dignak and dharma kitty this logical sort of approach you see if you're too honest uh then they're difficult [Laughter] so you should be more clever uh according the divider sort of uh thinking jupiter jupiter's thinking then accordingly sometimes you need little sort of clever cleverness i also do that [Laughter] like that so uh so all this depends on uh motivation okay then next question thank you the next question is from bhartinder dubai a student from jp institute of information technology noida greetings his holiness my question is what is the relation between physical and mental wellness and how do we obtain a balance of both in our lives thank you oh physical health uh mental health very close link or they we we usually say the physical health some part your blood your sort of certain physical element uh not balance then difficult but you see the physical now now for example the high blood pressure very much related with mental peace mentally peace no not much anxiety uh not much survivors today fear then the blood pressure these are very low so peace of mind mental level completely restful that also you see great effect for physical health okay so now these days you see some illness because of too much anxiety too much anger so now sort of mental health very sort of related with physical health in some cases of course it's a physical illness disturb our mind but many cases mind peace peaceful and then automatically body element also goes smoothly like that okay so now as i all as i already mentioned the indian tradition you see the logical way to keep karuna ahimsa is the best way to keep peace of mind that automatically help physical health okay i i think i can of course uh not nice but some relevant here i'm now it 87 years old 87 years old whole my life you see difficult and i was in tibet a lot of difficulties and then india when we reach india as a refugee there are a lot of problems and mainly you see inside tibet a lot of problem because of chinese suppression and one way chinese ruthless suppression china is communist and one way tibetan determined but we even you see thinking towards the chinese those what's the hardliner as we consider them as a human brother sisters and it actually is our neighbor uh for example one tibetan monk who spent 18 years in chinese gulak china's prison i think in early 80 80 you see he found opportunity come to here then we talk since i know him before 59 i know him very well so i asked him what kind of life 18 years in chinese prison he told me occasionally he faced some danger i thought danger on his life oh what kind of danger and his answer is danger losing compassion towards chinese so he feel you see keeping compassion towards your enemy is very essential so he consider losing compassion towards the troublemaker he consider very dangerous so as a result you see that person very peaceful like that so they shanta dawa once you see in his writing he mentioned your enemy is best teacher you can practice patience and many good things from when you face some problem with your enemy so enemy is best teacher the chandeliers mentioned like that actually you see training of our mind make distinction destructive emotion and constructive emotion then constructive emotion is direct sort of weapon to reduce destructive emotion so self-centered selfish is the key factor for problem for that counter force is altruism as i already mentioned if the karuna altruism is the antidote of self-centered selfish then another thing the thousand-year-old you see india is thinking things does not uh exist as sort of independently uh the sounds of the word put it to samu things exist due to a different factor interdependency so that concept are very helpful you see to reduce the things exist appears though appears something independent the reality due to other factor including your own viewpoint you see creates different reality on databases then angers attachment fear all these negative emotions you see come so therefore uh these two two practice one we call upoya sight that's karuna one praja site and nothing exists as aps as independently independently exist things are interdependent so this ancient indian was a day knowledge okay these very very useful you see to keep our mind calm even using difficult circumstances you can keep your mind calm so as i mentioned briefly i myself also student of this great indian master i practice so you see i can keep peace of mind when i hurt some problem some sort of suppression in tibet you say i can pray uh those uh ocd uh those chinese officials heartland officials especially you say pray for them like that these are very helpful you see to keep peace of mind uh with that you see it seems now i have no blood pressure always low that also some sort of connection what my peace of mind okay i never touch tranquilizer my my mind always peace all this i believe the indian sort of thought karuna these really makes my mind more calm that also you see affect my physical condition okay now next question thank you i would next like to invite kitesh pudhiraj from balbarti public school sweden india to ask his question namaste is holiness my question is how can one be satisfied with what one has and not care about what others have got thank you oh i think the material things including your own good good name or all these you see too much sort of grasping my my my my uh that's that brings more trouble so contentment is very important then uh once you have the practice of contentment then it's the other sort of then certainly no sort of desire or other sort of uh was a thing like that so they firstly important they we should know the inner value the material thing are secondary if we too much emphasis about the material value or your own case no contentment always one want one one then uh since you too much sort of was a day grasping the material thing then others sort of material also sometimes you develop some desire like that okay now next to ask the next question we have with us julia reilly from wright university husband texas greetings is holiness i have taken a class at university on buddhism and i'm learning about the middle way which has really changed my view on life however i still have trouble reconciling absolute truth with relative truth and discerning when to interpret my life and the decisions i make through one lens or the other if you have any wisdom about this conflict i would love if you could share it now you mentioned here true truth absolute absolute absolute truth and conventional truth that is actually the uh they mainly you see also the philosophical field which always make distinction to truth but uh but then our day our daily sort of life now for example the as i already mentioned the there is differences appearance and reality now reality we refer uh there also you see many uh different levels you see due to different sort of uh mental sort of investigation now for example um now indian generally indian tradition atma is more or less ultimate truth uh so this was the uh usual sort of uh feeling of self is kasa separated oh but then they life after life and also you see we usually we can easily say this is my body this is my mind where is i now there's a thousand year old investigator where is i oh and since you say indian tradition previous life this life next life so obviously this body at time of death no longer so the atma which you see more or less independent from this body that we call atma now or among indian tradition particularly but self the designated on the combination of body and mind particularly mind now here the mind the sound the five senses of organs then six the mind mental mind mental consciousness mental consciousness all these uh negative emotion or positive emotion mainly is related with six mind so all emotions related which is the mind the the the eye consciousness here consciousness smell consciousness all these are the something like what's a day service car like a medium or like a medium or you say the serving the main mind chit so so these eye consciousness ear consciousness no self servicing because of that no no power to designate just if you carry the message then sixth mind judge this is good this is bad then accordingly too much grasping and then just like anger or jealousy all these all these things happen and something positive and attachment like that so the grasping or things firstly appears then grasping or with that then seeks the mind make distinction this is something good there's something bad then you see too much grasping so uh chit mind the final decision maker like that so now uh roughly speaking uh we should not sort of decide uh things things existence as appears now can't ask quantum physicists say we should not bother appearances then muslims go deeper level so we can say here uh the true truth true truth superficial truth and deeper level truth then and in in religious field uh as i mentioned earlier uh buddhism theory then a lot of ocd a different conception about true truth or because of the description or idea about the true truth then firstly buddhism and non-buddhism like jainism very good but there are differences so within buddhism so there are those indian great things really as a result of analyzing our analyze that different philosophy you see this the basis buddha himself you seem made uh then like nagarjuna or assange then you said there are further investigation uh and then the subtle level of differences oh and then also you see these great indian master they are quite blunt like gender gritty uh the his philosophy is nagarjunas is a philosophy nothing exists as appears so so he mentioned now i can't translate the in [Music] you see he mentioned the subtle level of meaning of shinyata even some of those great buddhist master philosopher like bosoband and digna and so on you said they also you see whether they abandoned this philosophy or not and he he said yes they appended so when i when i read that because of the passage that passage and i feel quite proud and quite happy i am for me this philosophy i think very scientific very realistic and firstly very similar very close sort of link with quantum physics so therefore i always feel i'm the one student of nagarjuna and was the agenda so if chandragupti um today chandukiti opportunity to meet i think chandra kitty i think uh bachelor like that [Laughter] actually you see these thinking it's a better weapon to reduce all negative emotion all negative emotion ultimately ignorance so ignorance we believe things exist as appears that develop that basis of grasping or so in order to reduce that then nothing exists as appears oh things uh just a mere mental designation nothing independently exists so i also used to practice this daily morning as soon as i wake up i'm thinking recite some of the was the descendants wrote by the agenda very helpful very helpful okay and there's a story in tibet one you see uh tinker investigate thinking where's eye then finally he found nothing then he he touched using his his his clothes clothes or his body his body then he found this is something [Laughter] like that so so these are philosophy extremely useful very useful the most powerful antidote to cut the ignore ultimate ignorance so this my daily practice the very important part of practice very good i'm hoping if now uh there or another i i think they they most probably i think and they as i mentioned earlier they bad me uh and encouraging me they consider i am quite uh also the intelligent uh student of these philosophy okay these are not only knowledge but you see very powerful weapon to reduce negative emotion okay then next thank the next question is from karthik landa a student from iit bombay india greetings is holiness my question to you is in correspondence to covert pandemic bull warming human-made disasters and political instability as well as technological innovations space explorations medical advancements we wish to ask that if these humans are really making progress or are we just creating bigger cross as we manage to solve the old ones now these uh this because of the illness something something new yes certainly you see i i think i'm not expert with these things but i i believe you see the world they want a whole galaxies you see uh there is beginning so there's end so now things are always changing uh now they uh global warming now the many scientists now they release or also they recognize things are getting warmer warmer warmer and there is danger eventually you see tibet will become uh what's the desert uh so triplet uh usually you see the whole it i think i think we can say whole asia major river come from tibet so to bet a lot of snow and high altitude but now within my own lifetime this when i was young some my is a friend they say when they were young they say some mountain most know within my own lifetime less and less less so now that's uh because of nature natural process oh there's a pro profits like that so now we should pay more attention about uh ecology very important now you and also now saying uh i'm paying more attention particularly the united nations general secretary wonderful so now we have to while we just actually as a carry busy life then due to global warming gradually now these water uh reduce and the blue or city land eventually uh dessert so therefore we have to pay some attention like that so one of my commitment regarding tibet now preserve tibetan ecology and tibetan culture the political matter i already uh are saying retired the political matter we have the elected political leadership uh so myself or say responsibility is to preserve tibetan culture dependence of knowledge which come from as i mentioned earlier from india so now i think the great nalindra masters sort of thought we kept so really worthwhile and with that developed language also is the best language to describe these subtle philosophical views and psychology these things so that's my commitment and preserve tibetan ecology including science and technology i think we should say these are useful but should not go extremely uh you see that sometimes you see expert they only think their own one field so not much sort of concern about site effect that's i think we should you should pay more attention for holistic way just as pay one now for example the nuclear physicist nuclear one way is very expert but then only think that way and then a lot of fears you see bring something like that sort of thinking in different field we should keep more holistic not just one like that okay now next the next question is from bhargava from icai india sure greetings says holiness my question is how to deal with fear of failure and control our thoughts by remaining in the ideal state of mind and deal with every panicking situation comedy without being scared thank you for truth foreign okay i feel education education including about our inner world our mind our emotion so here the buddhist psychology the narrative tradition they say about mind about these different emotions and each emotions you see the particular sort of causes and antidote all these very detailed explanation in according the buddhist psychology so that's now so as a fear or there are fears with reason we need uh but meantime you see many cases just our own exaggeration and fear rather here we need like you said buddhist uh philosophy say the negative sight then antidote sight oh like fear of anger killing or like that then the also the counter force compassion forgiveness these things i think now this country in here now hindi translation available english translation available uh then since i came india in lhasa you see teaching of that book quite rare after i reach india you see i received you see the oral transmission the shuttle there was book now sixth chapter about you see how to sort of develop how to useful patience and intolerance and how harmful anger how harmful is antidote tolerance uh a wonderful sort of the presentation then eighth century eighth chapter altruism is wonderful the self-centered attitude is the key factor for problem so now when we face some problem then you should think whether there is a way to overcome that fear or not if you see uh if you find if if there is sort of possibility to overcome these sort of uh negative thing which you feel fear then no use to my sorrow i said fear make effort for counter force then those things which in any way ultimately you have to face no way to overcome then no use too much fear [Laughter] it's quite simple oh the center there was a book you see mentioned like that so i also used to practice that when i felt when i faced some problem analyze oh this problem can overcome then it's instead of fear or demoralize no determined if you see things beyond our control and because of no possibility to overcome then no use too much worry okay then next thank you his holiness to ask the question next i would like to invite sean evans from the university of gloucestershire england greetings is holiness i hold compassion as hugely important but i question where one draws the line uh with how we act on compassion in my life i also often come across situations when i feel like helping someone but doing so would hamper my own progress and work what should be done in such situations uh basically we are social animal so from birth our life depends on others our city compassion firstly from our mother then eventually family member and our neighbor and now today the whole world the future of individual depends on the world human human groups so therefore now they actually help other and try to reduce other sort of problems is indirectly best way to because to preserve your own interest because whole your life depend on other so taking care of another other is indirectly taking care of yourself you see anger i i i anger then creates all your neighbor you see something negative then finally you suffer so taking care about all your neighbor then when you face some problem you can ask you see or say help this is your neighbor so basically as i mentioned earlier we are social animals all all individual life uh entirely depends on or say care of others so now today's world the global for example global economy and global services ecology all these very much depend on other so now these days i'm telling i'm expressing we really need a sense of oneness of 7 billion human being so i'm part of that in order to individual yourself be happy life you see you should uh pay uh assad a realistic way to to to deal with other people like that okay i uh sometimes i sort of telling and also you should feel the best way to selfish way to selfish take care of yourself best way is to take care of other it's the best way to take for your own self because your whole life you should depend on other even some extent even animals birds also usually have limited sort of thinking for their own sort of interest for their own survival you see taking care they are a group like that now next for the final question of the session to his holiness i would like to invite kunal bhatt from mumbai university india thank you my question is since buddhism does not believe in the presence of a supernatural god what are the thoughts of his holiness on god's existence certainly as i mentioned earlier you see different religion different philosophy even buddha himself you see also give teaching according the different people whose different meditative position so sometimes buddha also you say uh even buddha's own word this body is sort of our burden the carrier uh this burden is self seems you see the uh this body uh or city and uh i is something complete separate so it's a buddha this is stated uh according some uh some people should repent of disposition then uh some cases buddha say no i no self make distinction as already we discuss true truth these things so so now um there are so different people according according sort of different media disposition to some people the creator god very helpful very good so i always telling the christianity or some hindus the creator believed but jainism not sorrow that kind of faith and buddhism also no no not that kind of sort of concept so otherwise muslim allah and judaism also oh so therefore you see that concept also very good nobody say god full of anger no say god loving kindness we are children of that kind of father god full of love so we should be helping each other loving each other because we all children of same father so that concept also is very helpful we all created by one god that god full of love and we all children of that that kind of father living kind of say father so that's very good very powerful and and according buddhism you are your own master that also is thinking one way very good but one way uh buddha say you are your own master whatever i like i can do [Laughter] so so all these great things teach teachers according to different people different mental position some people are the creator council of creator is wonderful very good okay thank you so much for the insightful and enlightening answers we pray einstein karuna we revive globally in this difficult times to our world we are really highly honored to have had the privilege of hosting you at techfest this year your words were truly inspiring and certainly struck a chord among us all they made us look inwards and think more deeply about spirituality and human condition now i would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to his holiness on behalf of the entire team of texfest iit bombay community as well as survivors and participants from across the globe then i want to share some sort of story south africa uh asked bishop to do to do to do i really respect him i really love him since we know each other very close so sometimes i mean he even used to come to dhamsala and a few days we discuss like that so then since we know each other very well and meantime so respect each other so therefore one occasion he jokingly told me he as a christian believe god so he ready go to heaven non-believer so dalamong go something different place [Laughter] so he hid he go to heaven because believe god dalawa no faith god creator so sinful go to hell then i told you this story one occasion some group of people and and and some of them told us respond to me they say wherever the they want to go together so respect christianity as i mentioned earlier wonderful but it's a whole world created by god uh there's a lot of problem uh our world why god creates that full of problem that world full of problems full of suffering why so difficult so india's concept of karma one's own action due to all these on the host of suffering these are due to one's own negative karma so theory of karma very good karma means action so all good bad depend on one's own action it's a good action helping other serving other you see you get benefit if you harm other if you create suffering other you you will suffer so the either you accept god creator wonderful the all know uh the indian tradition like jainism and buddhism no creator but everything depends on one's own action like that so thank you i really uh very much enjoy now uh discussion with our indian friend so i'm the guest of indian government uh now over uh it is now now 87 years i live here and then another i think at least uh one decade or two decades i will remain here in this country so uh we we can have some opportunity discuss now i am thinking seriously uh now this illness uh reduced then i'm very very eager to go to delhi or bombay calcutta and bangalore you see meet some indian education sort of scholars and how to develop in modern indian education modern education mainly related with external thing so ancient indian education about mind these are there because india can combine the existing modern education in this country very good now ancient indian knowledge about mind or about emotion this must combine academic level a secular way so that i'm sort of seriously thinking so more detailed discussion with educationist among indian different universities so i'm thinking very seriously and some of you also you see uh also have this all or opportunity or you should have the same responsibility to combine modern education and ancient indian education combined strictly secular way then india i think can make a certain significant contribution to whole world like that so thank you thank you sojourners for your kind words please await your arrival at iit bombay sometime thank soon too the attending for being a wonderful audience and may you and your loved ones stay well thank you

Channel: Dalai Lama

Views: 83,787

Rating: 4.9197268 out of 5

Keywords: dalai, lama, talk, purpose, life, tech, fest, IIT, Bombay, Institute, technology, question, answer, residence, dharamsala, india, 2020

Id: VYeomOFpLZE

Length: 87min 35sec (5255 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 15 2020