Essay Example on The Dalai Lama: Icon of Buddhism, Leader of Activism

The Dalai Lama is a crucial leader in the Buddhist religion, particularly the Vajrayana sect. He acts as an icon for the religion and is happy, or smiling face is a common symbol. Like leaders in other religions and cults, the Dalai Lama has, over the years, become the symbol of the Buddhist religion. As a leader, one is tasked with different roles, including protection of human rights and fight for justice, courses that have seen different Dalai Lama take part in activism. Through such activities, the Dalai Lama is seen by many as a political icon and a diplomat (The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, n.d.). The position of the Dalai Lama has changed over the years, with different people taking up the role. The expectations are, however, similar even though each Dalai Lama has been known for something unique or a different course that they were passionate about.

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In 1642, for example, during the incarnation of the fifth Dalai Lama, the new Dalai Lama assumed the roles of both a spiritual and political leader for the Tibetan people. Incoming Dalai Lama's undergo training according to the Tibetan Buddhism to ensure that incoming leaders understand the society they lead, are well disciplined and educated both spiritually and intellectually to lead the people in the correct religious and political path (The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, n.d.). Leadership is a task that entails understanding the background of the people one is leading as well as their expectations in different aspects of their lives. A Dalai Lama is hence expected to be part of the society and the spiritual group and understand both the religious and political background of Tibetan people.

Buddhism, as a religious stand for certain values and morals. Members are expected to conform to certain moral and ethical standards. As such, religious leaders, including the Dalai Lama, plays the role of educating the people and guiding them towards the correct path. One major role of the Dalai Lama is to encourage people to be happy. Buddhist teachings on happiness stipulate that peace of mind often brings in peace of body. When an individual experiences peace of mind, they are less likely to have health issues that cause physical pain. The teachings advocate for compassion, warm-heartedness, tolerance, forgiveness, contentment, and self-discipline as tools and principles that cause a human to have inner peace, which translates to a wholesome life. The Dalai Lama reminds people that wholeness for humans begins with inner peace and that all people can apply such practices (referred to by His Holiness as secular values or universal values) for purposes of a better life and a better community (The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama,2009). One of his main commitments is to hence educate people on the importance of the stated values and ensuring that all members of a society are aware of the benefits, whether believers of Buddhism or not.

The Dalai Lama also acts as a Buddhist monk implying that he plays a major role in preaching and encouraging harmony and people among different religious groups in the world. Harmony is a virtue in the Buddhist religion, and members are expected to live in peace with each other. As such, the religion emphasizes forgiveness as a secular value to avoid or reduce conflicts among members of the religion and the communities they live in. The Dalai Lama encourages harmony among members of different religious groups in the world and teaches that peace is a virtue that should be supported by all religious groups, even with the different ideologies and philosophies governing each religion. The Dalai Lama teaches that there is a need for humans to observe religions and several aspects of truth while respecting each other and avoiding religious conflicts, which often lead to loss of lives and destruction of property. Humanity is a virtue that should come before all other interests; hence the reason why the Dalai Lama and Buddhism in general believe and advocate for peace in the world.

The Dalai Lama is also committed to leadership among his people; the Tibetan people. Like most communities, religion plays an integral role in the lives of the members of a community. It is deeply integrated with the people's culture, beliefs, social and economic practices, and even politics. The Dalai Lama is hence committed to ensuring that the people not only have hope and faith but are also guided on different contemporary and political challenges they face on a day to day basis (The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, n.d.). The Dalai Lama must preserve the Tibetan culture and language through teachings and leadership. The Dalai Lama acts as a symbol of leadership for the Tibetan people implying that it is his role to not only preserve the culture and language of the people but to also guide and lead them in ways that are acceptable in the society, including passing on the people's rich history to current generations for identity purposes (The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, 2019). He hence acts as a symbol of unity and identity for the Tibetan people and plays the role of activism, especially on matters relating to oppression of the poor, health care, education, and other political issues, not in line with the secular values he promotes such as inequality and corruption.

One major challenge faced by the Tibetan people is that the culture of the people is being depleted. This situation can be attributed to interactions with cultures from different regions of the world and the depletion of the Buddhist religion, which is embedded in the culture of the Tibetan people. The Dalai Lama encourages young people to make the religion relevant in their lives, practice the teachings, and understand their culture to not only preserve it but also to pass it on to the next generation. He admits that the Tibetan culture has undergone several changes at the social and moral levels and encourages people to revisit the Tibetan practices.

The XIV Dalai Lama has looked beyond the Buddhist religion and emphasized that the secular values and certain traditions among the Indian community members such as meditation, yoga, and understanding of the human mind and emotions apply to people of all religions implying that they are universal practices that can benefit all humans without religious discrimination. This is because the Dalai Lama believes that a great and peaceful human mind is not only able to achieve anything but has other physical health benefits. The Dalai Lama has suggested that since India has a long-standing history of understanding the human mind, emotions and their relation to human behavior, teachings in the Indian culture can be incorporated in the current education system to improve learning outcomes and produce humans who understand what they are taught and how their minds work. The Dalai Lama is hence committed to reviewing the awareness of the value of ancient Indian knowledge to different people today and the benefits of the same.

The Dalai Lama advocates for research and understanding of the human environment and how the environment relates to human behavior and beliefs. The XIV Dalai Lama was, for example, asked about why children tend to learn about why children tend to develop moral principles and understand the concept of equally around the same time they learn to be selfish and deceitful. He related that to the child's environment. He encourages research and teaches people that even Buddha himself encouraged people to not follow his teachings blindly. The Dalai Lama is hence committed to encouraging people to study and research on different matters affecting them and find answers. By so doing, the Dalai Lama promotes the acquisition of education and knowledge, which act as great tools towards the development of the human brain and improvement of life in different aspects.

Conclusion

Buddhism, as a religion, advocates for certain secular values that are believed to be accepted universally. Such values include humanity, peace (individual and communal), the wholeness of a human, harmony among different people, and forgives. His Holiness, the current Dalai Lama, is committed to promoting these secular values as well as different philosophies relating to human life to ensure that people understand the secularism is not for any one particular religion but promotes respect for all religions. The Dalai Lama aims at teaching people universally accepted codes as opposed to relating certain values to a specific religion. At the same time, the Dalai Lama is committed to the promotion of Buddhism, a religion that is under threat of extinction. He teaches that Buddhism is not about reading and memorizing scriptures but understanding the religion and putting into practice values and morals taught in people's daily lives.

References

The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama (2009). Dalai Lama Underlines Promotion of Secular Values, Love, and Compassion | The 14th Dalai Lama. The 14th Dalai Lama. (2020). Retrieved 4 July 2020, from https://www.dalailama.com/news/2009/dalai-lama-underlines-promotion-of-secular-values-love-and-compassion.

The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama (2019). The Dalai Lama teaches a lesson on rethinking our faith traditions. Religion News Service. (2020). Retrieved 4 July 2020, from https://religionnews.com/2019/11/27/the-dalai-lama-teaches-a-lesson-on-rethinking-our-faiths-traditions/.

The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama (n.d.). Principal Commitments | The 14th Dalai Lama. The 14th Dalai Lama. (2020). Retrieved 4 July 2020, from https://www.dalailama.com/the-dalai-lama/biography-and-daily-life/three-main-commitments.