The Book of Joy

are growing and learning how to be compassionate, how to be caring, how
to be human.”
Almost a month later to the day, the world came together in Paris and
ratified climate change accords that overcame national differences and
economic greed to give our world a better chance of survival. The
Archbishop often liked to quote one of his heroes, Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr., who in turn was quoting one of his heroes, an abolitionist minister
named Theodore Parker, who said: “The arc of the moral universe is long,
but it bends toward justice.”
“Perhaps here I may mention something from my own experience,”
the Dalai Lama said. “March 10, 2008.” Every year, the Tibetan exile
community commemorates March 10 as Tibetan Uprising Day,
remembering the 1959 protest against Chinese occupation that ultimately
led to the crackdown against the Tibetan freedom movement and the
Dalai Lama’s flight into exile. In 2008, leading up to the Beijing
Olympics, that day had turned violent, starting in the Tibetan capital city
of Lhasa and then spreading throughout Tibet and cities around the world.
“As usual we had a gathering to commemorate the tenth of March.
After the meeting was over, I received a message from Lhasa that some
of the local people had started demonstrations. When I heard this I was
very concerned and quite anxious. I could not do anything. I felt helpless.
I knew if they really carried out demonstrations, it would actually result
only in more suffering, more problems. And this is exactly what
happened, with the violent crackdown and the death and imprisonment of
so many Tibetans who had participated in the protests. Over the next few
days, during my meditation, I actually visualized some of those Chinese
local authorities and did one of our practices, called tonglen, literally
meaning ‘giving and taking.’ I tried to take on their fear, anger,
suspicion, and to give them my love, my forgiveness. Of course, this
would have no physical effect on the ground. It would not change the
situation. But you see, mentally it was very, very helpful to keep a calm
mind. It was a good opportunity to practice forgiveness and compassion.
So I think that every person has this same sort of opportunity, this same
capacity.”