Happy Birthday, Ocean of Wisdom!

Picture from: http://www.hundredmountain.com/Pages/pageone_stuff/dalai2.html

Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, is 71, being born on July 6, 1935. According to Tibetan predictions, he will be the last Dalai Lama. As indicated in Wikipedia:

The current Dalai Lama has repeatedly stated that he will never be reborn inside territory controlled by the People's Republic of China, and has occasionally suggested that he might choose to be the last Dalai Lama by not being reborn at all. However, he has also stated that the purpose of his repeated incarnations is to continue unfinished work and, as such, if the situation in Tibet remains unchanged, it is very likely that he will be reborn to finish his work. Additionally, in the draft constitution of future Tibet, the institution of the Dalai Lama can be revoked at any time by a democratic majority vote of two-thirds of the Assembly. It is also worth mentioning that the 14th Dalai Lama has stated "Personally, I feel the institution of the Dalai Lama has served its purpose."

How does one appropriately celebrate the birthday of a man who is revered as a God and is believed to be the human manifestation of Avalokitesvara, the bodhisattva of compassion? Being a Nobel Prize winner is not too shabby either. And it's also cool to have a special doll made to one's image. Not to mention that, on June 22, 2006, the Parliament of Canada voted unanimously to make Tenzin Gyatso an honorary citizen of Canada. It is the third time in history that the Government of Canada has bestowed this honour.

Hello Dalai Dolly!

Some quotations from The Man himself [http://tinyurl.com/hz8kq]

-"In the practice of tolerance, one's enemy is the best teacher."

-"I am a simple Buddhist monk - no more, no less."

-"My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness."

-"This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness."

-"All major religious traditions carry basically the same message, that is love, compassion and forgiveness ... the important thing is they should be part of our daily lives."

-"The very purpose of religion is to control yourself, not to criticise others. Rather, we must criticise ourselves. How much am I doing about my anger? About my attachment, about my hatred, about my pride, my jealousy? These are the things which we must check in daily life."

-"If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion."

-"It is very important to generate a good attitude, a good heart, as much as possible. From this, happiness in both the short term and the long term for both yourself and others will come."

-"Human happiness and human satisfaction must ultimately come from within oneself. It is wrong to expect some final satisfaction to come from money or from a computer."

-"Compassion and tolerance are not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength."

-"Buddhism does not accept a theory of God, or a creator. According to Buddhism, one's own actions are the creator, ultimately. Some people say that, from a certain angle, Buddhism is not a religion but rather a science of mind. Religion has much involvement with faith. Sometimes it seems that there is quite a distance between a way of thinking based on faith and one entirely based on experiment, remaining skeptical. Unless you find something through investigation, you do not want to accept it as fact. From one viewpoint, Buddhism is a religion, from another viewpoint Buddhism is a science of mind and not a religion. Buddhism can be a bridge between these two sides. Therefore, with this conviction I try to have closer ties with scientists, mainly in the fields of cosmology, psychology, neurobiology and physics. In these fields there are insights to share, and to a certain extent we can work together."

-"If science proves some belief of Buddhism wrong, then Buddhism will have to change. In my view, science and Buddhism share a search for the truth and for understanding reality. By learning from science about aspects of reality where its understanding may be more advanced, I believe that Buddhism enriches its own worldview."

- (On why Tibet receives little attention from the rest of the world) "Tibet is not like Kuwait. Kuwait has oil."

So happy belated birthday, Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso ("Holy Lord, Gentle Glory, Compassionate, Defender of the Faith, Ocean of Wisdom"), Yeshe Norbu ("Wish-Fulfilling Gem"), Kundun ("the Presence") !!!!1!!11!! Yay!!