War and peace
"It is really very sad to witness these dark days when men are bereft of compassion, kindness and brotherhood, preferring to engage in meaningless wars.
Mankind has placed the uttermost stress on its ego, forgetting that this will only lead to hatred and jealousy."
August 12, 1980. The Strait Times, Kuala Lumpur.
Asked concerning the conflicts with Islamist countries
He said he could not comment on the political intricacies of this country's clashes with the spiritual nation of Islam in Iran "which do not intrigue me," but concluded the countries' difficulties arose because of spiritual problems.
"Common sense tells me as long as a religion is purely practiced, I do not see it causing conflict."
At another occasion he commented:
"What is important is to have some sort of religion, to follow some sort of path," the Karmapa said, "and to keep that religion spiritually pure.
"As long as a religion is kept pure and is not used politically, this can cause and contribute to peace and harmony in general."
From Radiant Compassion, p. 409:
Peace
Q: Some prophecies foretell serious changes, disasters, and even the end of the world
within a few years. What do you think about this?
Karmapa: I do not think speculating about the future is helpful. Instead, we should use our time to practice the Dharma so we can be- come clearer in our minds and can recognize the nature of timeless, primordial awareness. In the same way that pouring cold water into boiling water lessens its agitation, through practice the mind becomes more and more still. Furthermore, this allows us to contemplate the impermanence of all phenomena and thus to use this theme in our meditation practice. We should not get lost with many subjects, but instead allow the fear of threatening dangers to help us understand the impermanence and transitory nature of all compounded things. We will then be applying Dharma’s skillful means. Constantly pondering these difficulties only nourishes them. I hope that things will turn out for the best, but our task is to cultivate a compassionate state of mind and to understand that suffering is inherent in the conditioned world.
I was recently practicing Tārā* very intensively, and praying to this yidam* to intervene in the conflict between China, Vietnam, and the Soviet Union, which was in danger of escalating. During the retreat, China withdrew from the country and both sides fortunately made peace. Thus, praying and especially sending intense prayers to Tārā is recommended as a way to ensure peace. That aside, I do not believe that a great war will arise. Rather, more and more minor conflicts, unrest, wars, and so on will manifest. We must remember that the reason we think there are more conflicts in today’s world could be because of the media reporting on these conflicts more than before.
"It is really very sad to witness these dark days when men are bereft of compassion, kindness and brotherhood, preferring to engage in meaningless wars.
Mankind has placed the uttermost stress on its ego, forgetting that this will only lead to hatred and jealousy."
August 12, 1980. The Strait Times, Kuala Lumpur.
Asked concerning the conflicts with Islamist countries
He said he could not comment on the political intricacies of this country's clashes with the spiritual nation of Islam in Iran "which do not intrigue me," but concluded the countries' difficulties arose because of spiritual problems.
"Common sense tells me as long as a religion is purely practiced, I do not see it causing conflict."
At another occasion he commented:
"What is important is to have some sort of religion, to follow some sort of path," the Karmapa said, "and to keep that religion spiritually pure.
"As long as a religion is kept pure and is not used politically, this can cause and contribute to peace and harmony in general."
From Radiant Compassion, p. 409:
Peace
Q: Some prophecies foretell serious changes, disasters, and even the end of the world
within a few years. What do you think about this?
Karmapa: I do not think speculating about the future is helpful. Instead, we should use our time to practice the Dharma so we can be- come clearer in our minds and can recognize the nature of timeless, primordial awareness. In the same way that pouring cold water into boiling water lessens its agitation, through practice the mind becomes more and more still. Furthermore, this allows us to contemplate the impermanence of all phenomena and thus to use this theme in our meditation practice. We should not get lost with many subjects, but instead allow the fear of threatening dangers to help us understand the impermanence and transitory nature of all compounded things. We will then be applying Dharma’s skillful means. Constantly pondering these difficulties only nourishes them. I hope that things will turn out for the best, but our task is to cultivate a compassionate state of mind and to understand that suffering is inherent in the conditioned world.
I was recently practicing Tārā* very intensively, and praying to this yidam* to intervene in the conflict between China, Vietnam, and the Soviet Union, which was in danger of escalating. During the retreat, China withdrew from the country and both sides fortunately made peace. Thus, praying and especially sending intense prayers to Tārā is recommended as a way to ensure peace. That aside, I do not believe that a great war will arise. Rather, more and more minor conflicts, unrest, wars, and so on will manifest. We must remember that the reason we think there are more conflicts in today’s world could be because of the media reporting on these conflicts more than before.
