Readers Write: Compassion in The World

I've been writing some long email responses to some of the readers of my blog (ie. friends and family), and since I already did the writing, I figured I could put some of it here (edited some) and share the message with everyone. Hopefully I won't upset those who wrote to me. This one's from my Dad. He writes:

Hi Daniel,
Happy Losar – belatedly.

...Here is something you can find when you look up the city on Wikipedia: "Dharamshala" is a Hindi word (derived from Sanskrit) that is a compound of dharma and shālā . An approximate translation into English would be 'spiritual dwelling' or, more loosely, 'sanctuary'.

Cool! I just read that the Dalai Lama's ideal goal for Tibet would be that it becomes a "global peace sanctuary!" A place for human's and animal's to live simply, compassionately, and at peace. I love that idea!

...On Saturday at a dinner, I sat across from a fellow who talked about being red-green color blind which got me thinking about that feature again. I wonder how you see the myriad colors of India. Your photos are wonderful. I found a web site that simulates different color blindness visions

I loaded the image, 17th_karmapa_funny_face_losar.jpg, into the simulator and tried the different options. Tibetan red is a nice dark color; good contrasts. When you get back maybe you can help me see as you see. At any rate, in any hue rendering your photos are wonderful.

Thanks. Nothing like some fatherly appreciation!

Yesterday on the radio I heard a piece on the new Delhi ragpickers. Trash pickup is being privatized and at the moment is displacing ragpickers with private contractors – there are hopefully fixes to get the ragpickers employed or running such businesses. One person interviewed used to make 360 rupees a day and could afford to send his kids to school. Now he makes 100 rupees a day and has his whole family helping him. I think 100 rupees is about $2 a day. Yipes.

I have been reading an India atlas and looking up information on Bihar. Last year was a horrible drought year e.g. "With crops failing, 3.3 mn people in Bihar risk death by hunger" November 30th, 2009 ICT by IANS By Sahil Makkar. And, another article: "Even after 50 years of planned development more than half of the population of Bihar are classified as poor. According to All India Statistical Data 1999-2000, 54.63% of total population of Bihar survive in absolute poverty i.e., they are living below poverty line. It means, they do not even receive the minimum basic needs of livelihood." I realize it must be a painful experience, but you are really there in the middle of this intractable situation.

Bihar was incredibly poor, yes. It was announced during the retreat that on one very cold night in Bodh Gaya, 4 villagers had died of the cold. Too poor for proper warmth and shelter.

I am glad you saw the Dalai Lama. He is full of joy and good sense. I think about what it is like to struggle for justice for your whole life time. You know you will not succeed in your lifetime. And still to have such joy, humor, practicality, and intensity of purpose. I think he is one of the most remarkable people in the world. And, he was tapped for the job. He did not fill out an application. But he stepped up to the job.

Love,
Dad

About the Dalai Lama, I totally agree with you, and it has been a wonderful experience both to see him, and to see the impact he's had on the people of this village. On the flip side, I have been exploring another issue which is the issue of "spiritual celebrity." I heard it said by one teacher in the west that we (as westerners) don't know how to deal with the concept of a "guru" or a spiritual teacher. We don't have a good model for it. (Probably there are lots of poor models for it worldwide, but specifically speaking about the west...) We have preachers, and we have the pope. But, perhaps more influential, we have celebrities! And, so, this teacher was suggesting that a lot of people who want to live a good life may fall back on the celebrity model when they don't know what else to do.

I think it'd be a shame to say that the love of the Dalai Lama for the Tibetan people is any better or more important or more dazzling than say the love of a mother for her child, or the love of a child for bananas! I'm not saying that you were suggesting such a hierarchy, Dad, but this aura of celebrity does seem to surround the Dalai Lama, and I think it's disempowering for the heart of the individual. Anyway, enough said about that.

Thanks for sharing, Dad, and I hope you don't mind me passing on the message with others.