I read a short item about this in The State this morning, so I was interested when I saw that publicists had sent me the embed codes for clips from Larry King’s interview with the Dalai Lama.
So I share it with you. From the release:
Larry leans in to ask the heartfelt question “When you see terrible events. When you see a man shoot up a church in South Carolina don’t you question your faith?”
“We need to make more effort to bring awareness regarding the value of compassion. Compassion means, it’s the sense of concern for others well being and the respect of others’ lives. When you have that sort of conviction it’s impossible to bully others, to cheat another, to kill another,” His Holiness answered.
The message isn’t failing. The Dalai Lama explains that obsession with worldly possessions & a lack of teaching children about inner values contributes to tragedies such as the shooting inside the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina “The message is not properly channelized. The message of love is just inside the church and not daily life.” He continues, “The existing modern education is very much oriented about material value. Not much is talked about regarding inner value.”…
I’m sure he is right that we all, including Dylann Roof, could use better “values.” The answer seems a bit oblique, though — somewhat lacking in specifics, possibly because His Holiness comes from such a different cultural perspective that the killer’s particular brand of deadly animosity is far more bewildering to him than it is to us. Or perhaps I’m just failing to completely understand the role of materialism in this case. (I mean, I can draw such a line: A high school dropout feels so oppressed by his low economic expectations that he constructs a worldview in which “others” are to blame for his plight. I’m just not sure that is central to what happened.)
Nevertheless, when he calls for more compassion, I am sure he is in the right of it.
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The release for some reason leaves out the Dalai Lama’s initial response to King’s question, “When you see a man shoot up a church in South Carolina don’t you question your faith?”
His answer, which I thought was good, is that on the contrary, it confirms his belief in what is needed.
I doubt the Dalai Lama meant that Roof’s problem was materialism. I think it is more likely that he meant that materialism has displaced other teaching, on compassion and loving kindness as central values.
Perhaps so. Of course, some might react to this part:
… by saying he’s advocating prayer in the schools…
Prayer =/= to education!
I couldn’t make out your symbol — “=/=”
Did you mean ≠?
Yes.
It’s a common way to denote “not equal to.”
… when what he means is that people need to live their deepest values all week, not just for an hour on Sunday.
There’s a song we sing as we let out at Spanish Masses that addresses that, and I was going to quote from it, but I can’t seem to find it.
So I’ll just close with Jethro Tull’s admonition that God is “not the kind you have to wind up on Sundays…”
OK, we sang that song again at the end of Mass yesterday. It goes:
That recording is kinda cheesy. It sounds way better live with guitar and piano, led by our Spanish choir, which is fronted by Matt DeGuire, who is known as a serious talent on the local stage…
I don’t think “inner value” equates with prayer in his statement. However, rethinking my earlier response, I still think he was talking about the focus in education. However, he surely would say that materialism is an important part of everyone’s problems (including Roof’s), since materialism is an expression of desire or craving, which Buddhism teaches is the root of suffering. Of course desire or craving is also the root of a capitalist economy based on never-ending growth, so good luck with eliminating that from the education of young people, or anyone.
I caddied for the Lama once. So we finish the eighteenth and he’s gonna stiff me. And I say, “Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know.” And he says, “Oh, uh, there won’t be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness.”
So I got that goin’ for me, which is nice.
Thanks for sharing, Carl. Getting any golf in, down in Charleston?
Not lately. I’m working on a hybrid grass for a new golf course that’s a cross, ah, of Bluegrass, Kentucky Bluegrass, Featherbed Bent, and Northern California Sensemilia.
The amazing stuff about this new grass is that you can play 36 holes on it in the afternoon, take it home and just get completely stoned that night on it.
Carl – please return to the swimming pool area. There is a clean up incident requiring your immediate attention.