The Book of Joy

compassion and a sense of concern for the Chinese hard-liners. I tried to
take their anger, their fear, into myself and give them my love, my
forgiveness. This is our practice of taking and giving, of tonglen.
“It was really very helpful to keep my mind calm. In our struggle, we
deliberately try to stop ourselves from developing anger or hatred. Of
course the Chinese are a wonderful people. But even for the hard-liners,
the officials, we deliberately tried to keep a sense of compassion, sense of
concern for their well-being.”
The Dalai Lama then spoke in Tibetan and Jinpa translated.
“Generally, when we speak of cultivating compassion for someone, we
are cultivating compassion for someone who is actually undergoing acute
suffering and pain. But you can also develop compassion for someone
who may not be experiencing acute pain or suffering right now, but who
is creating the conditions for their own future suffering.”
“So you see,” the Dalai Lama continued, “these people are committing
such negative actions, committing harmful acts that create lot of pain for
others. In the Christian tradition, don’t you say they will go to hell?”
The Archbishop nodded, listening.
“In our view also those people who are committing atrocities,
including murder, are creating karma that brings very serious negative
consequences. So there are many reasons to feel a sense of real concern
for their well-being. When you have a sense of concern for their well-
being, then there is no place for anger and hatred to grow.
“Forgiveness,” the Dalai Lama continued, “does not mean we forget.
You should remember the negative thing, but because there is a
possibility to develop hatred, we mustn’t allow ourselves to be led in that
direction—we choose forgiveness.” The Archbishop was also clear about
this: Forgiveness does not mean you forget what someone has done,
contrary to the saying “Forgive and forget.” Not reacting with negativity,
or giving in to the negative emotions, does not mean you do not respond
to the acts or that you allow yourself to be harmed again. Forgiveness
does not mean that you do not seek justice or that the perpetrator is not
punished.
The Dalai Lama has chosen not to react out of anger and hatred, but