By Leyna Krow, Editor, JTNews
What does it take to inspire young people toward compassionate action? This is the question that kicked off the final day of events tied to the Dalai Lama’s visit to Seattle.
The Dalai Lama traveled to Seattle to take part in the five-day Seeds of Compassion conference, which began on April 11 and included a variety of speeches, workshops, and musical performances, all surrounding the topic of human kindness.
“These five days are about what we can do to reconnect our brains to our hearts,” said Dan Kransler, president of the Kirlin Foundation and an instrumental player in getting the Dalai Lama to Seattle, at a press conference prior to the start of the Seeds of Compassion events.
On Tuesday morning, the Dalai Lama took part in a panel discussion called “Inspiring Compassion in Our Youth” at the University of Washington’s Edmundson Pavilion. He was joined by the Episcopal Archbishop of South Africa Desmond Tutu as well as seven other religious leaders from various faiths, including Rabbi David Rosen, chairman of the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations.
The discussion, moderated by Zen Buddhist Master Roshi Joan Halifax, started with an exploration of where compassion comes from, but quickly segued to other topics including the necessity of anger and the importance of strong interfaith relations.
Halifax began by asking each panelist to share early experiences they may have had as children that they believe led them to become compassionate adults. Rosen pointed to the influence of his mother as the source of his compassionate instincts, a sentiment that was echoed by Benedictine nun Sister Joan Chittister and the Dalai Lama.
Nearly all of the panelists agreed that the best way to instill compassion in children is to provide them with compassionate role models, most specifically, their parents.
“I think everyone’s first teacher of compassion is their mother, there’s no doubt,” the Dalai Lama concluded.
The answer of how to maintain compassion as an adult prompted more debate.
The Dalai Lama said he works to replace anger with other emotions, even when confronted with situations like China’s recent crackdown on protestors in Tibet. Tutu, however, stressed that there are times when anger should be embraced.
“It is something to be thankful for, when you lose your cool. If you don’t get angry when you hear that children are being killed in Darfur, I would be concerned about you,” Tutu said. “I get very angry at God. ‘How could you let this happen?’ I ask.”
He then turned the question back to the Dalai Lama, asking, “How can you, 50 years into exile, be so bubbly and joyous?”
Each panelist agreed that feelings of anger and sadness still ought to be channeled into compassionate, loving actions. Rosen was particularly outspoken in his belief that spiritual matters should never be a source of or an excuse for violence.
“If belief systems are used for violent purposes, then they are a betrayal of spirituality,” Rosen said.
Rosen believes the solution to religious violence is to strengthen interfaith bonds, which, ideally, leads members of different beliefs and backgrounds to feel that they are all part of the same community. He has worked for more than 25 years to foster relationships between different religious groups in South Africa, Ireland and Israel. He noted that there are currently more than 70 such organizations operating in Israel, where he now resides.
The Dalai Lama concurred with Rosen, saying that the similarities of the world’s many faiths far outstrip their cosmetic differences.
“Every religion has different names, different philosophies, different robes,” he said, pointing to himself and then to Tutu’s pink cassock. “But they all have the same essence.”