Dalai Lama

The past two weeks watching the Olympics on TV has taken up much of my time. Although I enjoy Olympic competition, I think I am spending too much time watching it. Tonight, perhaps feeling guilty, I was using the remote to go back and forth from the Olympics to a documentary on the Dalai Lama that I had recorded last night. The documentary was called “10 Questions for the Dalai Lama” and gave a nice overview of Buddhism, the situation in Tibet and the Dalai Lama’s role as a world leader of peace. So while the Dalai Lama was talking about the need for detachment and for self-disciple, I was flipping back and forth to the Olympic games. Certainly self-discipline is something an Olympic athlete must have to get to the games. But the desire to win is so strong it must be hard to practice detachment. I was impressed how most American Olympic athletes, when they lost, made no excuses but, although deeply upset, accepted the loss graciously. The athletes who won did not have to face that difficult challenge. The contrast between the life and words of the Dalai Lama and the Olympics was made more fascinating since the Olympics are being held in China. The Chinese invaded Tibet in the ‘50’s and destroyed Tibetan culture, forcing the Dalai Lama to live in exile in India ever since. However, despite the suffering of his people, the Dalai Lama remains very forgiving and loving to the Chinese. If only the Chinese, who are making a great show in the Olympics as a world power, would be so forgiving, loving, open-minded. I also heard today on the news that although the Chinese government set up four or so official protest zones, all permits for protests or demonstrations have been turned down. In fact some of those who applied for permits to protest have been arrested and are in jail.

Today my friend Dianne and I worked on the pilgrimage of peace to India in the footsteps of Gandhi we will be taking at the end of this year. The more I learn about the culture of the East, China and India especially, the more I want to learn about it. There is something attractive about religions like Hinduism and Buddhism. I believe it is how naturally they integrate into daily life. The spirit, physical and mind world are together. In the interview with the Dalai Lama he was asked about the Middle East. Part of his answer was the need for more festivals to unite persons. Festivals, like the Olympic games, do bring people together for a common interest. Perhaps the ultimate nonviolent action to get ”Marquette University to be faithful to the Gospel and no longer military training on campus” would be to have a major Olympic-style peace festival on campus to celebrate the way of faith ending the teaching of war. Maybe you can go back and forth between the Dalai Lama and Olympics.

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