Spiritual Teaching

On Sunday morning, April 18, 2004 His Holiness gave a Spiritual Teaching entitled “Good Heart -- Full Life” to over 12,500 intent listeners at the Pacific Coliseum. The event was organized by an Ad-hoc Coalition of Vancouver Tibetan-Buddhists, including various individuals from the Gelugpa and Chinese Vajrayanist communities, and the following dharma centers:

• Rigpa
• Sakya Tsenchen Thubten Ling
• Vancouver Shambala Centre
• Siddharta's Intent
• Khachoe Zung Juk Ling Abbey
• Land of Compassion Buddha

In this Spiritual Teaching, His Holiness explained how conceptions of self affect our experience of the world and our propensity for suffering. What is important, he stressed, is to realize that we all share a fundamental need for happiness and freedom from the pains of existence. At the root of suffering is our delusion that there exists an inherently real or independent self. This basic ignorance is a poison from which grasping and a host of negative emotions and attitudes proliferate.

His Holiness emphasized Maitreya’s view that altruistic awakening of the mind is the key to generating compassion and recognizing the value of each human being. Altruistic awakening is the source of all spiritual aspiration. It is where the expansiveness of meditative experience joins the highest ethical discipline, where wisdom and the ethics of compassion come together. By understanding the interrelatedness of all phenomena, we come to see our existence as linked with that of fellow sentient beings.

Yet, His Holiness warned, this level of wisdom and ethical discipline is not easily reached, nor is it a steady state in the absence of full enlightenment. It needs to be cultivated with daily mindfulness and study. He reminded listeners that there is a tendency to be leisurely with spiritual practice when life is rosy. If not cultivated properly, spiritual resources may be lacking when they are most needed for the challenges that test us. At all times, he urged, “Use your own conscience as a witness to the mindfulness and ethics of your actions.”

Suggested Readings

Following are some works on the subject of compassion, written by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and others:

Introductory Level

• The Power of Compassion, Harper Collins, 2001
• The Compassionate Life, Wisdom Publications, 2003
• The Art of Happiness, Putnam, 1998

Intermediate Level

• An Open Heart, Little, Brown, 2002
• The Heart of Compassion, Lotus Press, 2002
• The Transformed Mind: Reflections on Truth, Love and Happiness, Harper Collins, 2002
• Transforming the Mind: Teaching on Generating Compassion, Harper Collins, 2003

Advanced Level

• Commentary on the 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva, HH Dalai Lama's Charitable Trust, 2003
• The Way of the Bodhisattva, by Shatideva, Shambala, 2003
• Becoming the Compassion Buddha: Tantric Mahamudra for Everyday Life, ed. Robina Courtin, Wisdom, 2003

Archived Webcasts of Events

Five events held during the visit were Webcast and are now available on-line for viewing.