This paper explores the life and religious traditions of the Dalai Lama, and describes how he exemplified the Buddhism tradition. According to Smith (243), Dalai Lama was a political and religious leader of Tibet. He was selected to head the Tibet State at a very young age (16 years), but later went into exile.
Despite the numerous hardships and challenges he faced, he never gave up. He went ahead to advocate for freedom and managed to prove himself as a political and spiritual leader of the Tibet people.
Several people regard Dalai Lama as both a godly king and a living Buddha.
The increased love that Dalai Lama expressed for his people prompted him to draft several letters which he sent to different states such as Britain and America with the aim of seeking support for changing Tibet from an open State into an independent or sovereign country.
Although his plea was not accepted, this rejection did not prevent him from supporting his people. For instance, he confronted the authorities that had oppressed his people for a very long time.
Dalai Lama did not seem to care for the consequences that would follow as a result of his engagement in political activities, and was ready to engage in extremely risky activities for the sake of his people.
Quite a large number of people opted to follow Dalai Lama when he went into exile. They later helped him to form an alternative democratic government that accommodated educational and cultural institutions (Hattaway 161).
The numerous works of Dalai Lama made him to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in the year 1989. This award was mainly as a result of his establishing non-violent policies, and increasing fight for human rights in the country and other areas that had reported high cases of human rights violation.
Apart from his participation in global environmental forums, Dalai Lama was always against the use of forceful ways in resolving problems. He expounded the importance of using peaceful means in resolving conflicts and exercising mutual respect and tolerance.
His main purpose was to fight for full preservation of all forms of heritages that were valued by fellow Buddhists.
When he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, he told his people that determination, courage, and truth would help liberate the Tibet people as they continued with their struggle for liberty (Harrington and Zajonc 13).
Dalai Lama regards himself as a common Buddhist monk who is preferred by the Tibet people because of his warmth and simplicity.
According to him, it is extremely important for people to exercise compassion, love, and forgiveness even in situations that appear very difficult for an individual to practice such virtues. Most of his teachings are based on spiritual enlightenment, and increasing a person’s understanding of the purpose or meaning of life.
In addition, Dalai Lama finds it worthy for individuals to have productive qualities such as compassion, love, and an understanding of universal responsibility regardless of religious, social or political background.
Although many people view Dalai Lama as a form of Buddha reincarnation, he believes that he is just a normal human being who has chosen to become a Buddhist monk for the sole purpose of serving his people (Harrington and Zajonc 19).
It is important for people to recognize and respect the wisdom and words of Dalai Lama irrespective of whether he qualifies to be a Buddha reincarnation. This is based on the fact that Dalai Lama has gone to an extent of risking his life so as to liberate his people.
Dalai Lama’s religious tradition can be understood through quite a number of ways as discussed in the following paragraphs. Being the leader of modern Buddhism, he has managed to attract millions of people affiliated to Buddhism religion.
Over the last fifty years, Dalai Lama has made tremendous efforts in modernizing and promoting Buddhism. This has consequently resulted into a profound impact in various areas of life and especially religion.
After leaving Tibet in 1959, Dalai Lama embarked on preaching Buddhism to people from different parts of the world. Most of his religious activities were conducted in India where he had sought refuge.
While in India, he managed to establish a number of education systems commonly known as Dharma Shala. These systems were used to teach traditions practiced by the Tibet people and they were also a way of maintaining the spirit of Buddhism faith.
Dalai Lama’s religious activities reached a peak during the 1960s when he managed to visit close to sixty three nations by preaching Buddhism. By 2005, he had managed to make close to three hundred visits in different parts of the world in the course of spreading religious teachings.
Through these visits, he helped to increase the image, profile, and the general awareness of Buddhism as a religion. His religious activities have transformed Buddhism into a popular religion within the new modern world.
Several people from western nations who were previously associated with Christianity have changed to Buddhism as a result of Dalai Lama’s effort to promote and explain the importance of being part of Buddhism religion (Bradley 113).
Another significant contribution made by Dalai Lama is his endless struggle to modernize Buddhism. Through his religious activities, Dalai Lama has established an appropriate platform for developing an association between various modern issues and Buddhism philosophies.
For example, his speeches have helped people to gain a good understanding of the modern ethical issues that affect the society in a negative way. These issues include the increasing cases of abortion and other unacceptable sexual behaviors.
In regards to abortion, Dalai Lama believes that engaging in such an act is just like committing murder to the unborn child according to the teachings from Buddhism religion.
In his view, it is important for people to avoid engaging themselves in such acts because they are not merely causing the death of the unborn child; they also go against the teachings and doctrines of Buddhism religion.
In order to help understand the contribution made by Dalai Lama in religion, there is great need for individuals to understand the humanistic religion that involves various activities carried out by people from different parts of the world. (Bradley 115).
Dalai Lama believes that it is not possible for religion to pervade individual activities because it is not easy to group human life in different compartments. Historically, Dalai Lama was very open to dialogue especially when communicating to Christians. His dialogue focused on two factors.
One of the factors was associated with his stay at exile where he experienced unique state of affairs including the India’s religious pluralism. His love for religion prompted representatives of different religious traditions to welcome him during his visit to Sarnath.
It is worth to mention that Dalai Lama was not just welcomed by the members of the Buddhist religion; he was also received well by other religions including the Hindus, Muslims, and Christians. At one time, he carried out common religious functions with a catholic priest in spite of the sharp contrast between the two religions.
Dalai Lama on behalf of other Christians, the two became very close friends to an extent of conducting both interreligious and intercultural dialogues together. The second factor which enhanced his religious activities was his dialogue with another monk by the name Thomas Merton.
In some of his writings, Dalai Lama explains that the dialogue between him and Thomas greatly enhanced his attitude towards Christianity. Based on this, it is worthwhile to consider Dalai Lama as a strong link between Christianity and Buddhism.
From a religious perspective, it can be said that Thomas Merton made significant contribution in strengthening Dalai Lama’s love for religion. With the help of Thomas, Dalai Lama was able to comprehend the importance of conducting dialogues involving people from different religions.
Apart from helping individuals to have a good future, a dialogue increases ones understanding of various practices undertaken by individual religions (Mehrotra 188).
In order to facilitate dialogue, Dalai Lama identified four techniques that could be used to convey an effective dialogue.
To start with, he explained the importance of inviting scholars with different religious traditions in order to gain a good understanding of similarities and differences that exist between various philosophical traditions.
By so doing, he emphasized that it would becomes extreme easy for individuals to enrich their thinking and at the same time acquire a deeper dimension of different traditions.
Secondly, Dalai Lama explained the benefit of holding frequent meetings involving practitioners with varying religious traditions. When conducting a dialogue, it is important to involve genuine practitioners who possess a unique experience in relation to the practices involving their individual traditions.
Thirdly, Dalai Lama suggested that followers with varying traditions were supposed to comprehend the importance of conducting joint visits to the pilgrimage to provide them with an opportunity of coming together from where they can pray together and share their individual experiences.
If it becomes impossible to conduct joint prayers, the followers can opt to conduct a silent meditation.
The last technique identified by Dalai Lama focuses on the need for religious leaders to hold joint meetings or gatherings as a way of sending a powerful signal to their individual followers (Jha 85).
If the leaders are not willing to come together, it becomes extremely difficult for followers to do the same because they rely on their leaders for guidance.
According to Dalai Lama, there is no need for an individual to change his or her religion. Instead, one should try to find alternative ways that can improve his or her religious practices. For example, a Buddhist who meets with a Christian should not convert his faith into Christianity.
However, he should struggle towards becoming a better Buddhist. Although Dalai Lama is against conversions from one religion to another, many people from western countries with Christian background convert to Buddhists. This might be caused by lack of strong spiritual experience in Christianity (Bradley 18).
It is also possible that people who choose to convert to Buddhism are not in support of institutional churches. This compels them to turn into Buddhism so that they can grow their spiritual way of life.
It is vital to mention that Dalai Lama’s increased involvement in religious activities was boosted by his desire to realize a more transparent and democratic method of conducting religious successions while maintaining the reincarnation doctrine.
His love for Buddhist teachings has enabled him to identify the interdependence that exists between the surrounding natural environment and people. He believes that different aspects in life are connected to each other and as such, individuals should regard all aspects of life as being equally important (Bradley 30).
From the above discussion, it can be noted that Dalai Lama has made tremendous contribution to Buddhism religion. Although he faced numerous hardships and challenges when advocating for the freedom of the Tibet people, he never turned back. He opted to use alternative methods of liberating his people.
His contribution to the welfare of the people involved the establishment of non-violent policies, and increased fight for human rights in the country and other areas that had reported high cases of human rights violation. Dalai Lama’s continuous struggle led to the Nobel peace prize award in 1989.
His contribution to Buddhism religion was done through a number of ways such as the establishment of an appropriate platform for developing an association between various modern issues and Buddhism philosophies.
He also emphasized the importance of conducting dialogues involving scholars with different religious traditions in order to gain a good understanding of similarities and differences that existed between various philosophical traditions.
In addition, he introduced the idea of having joint visits to the pilgrimage so as to provide followers from different religions with an opportunity of coming together, praying together, and sharing their individual experiences.
Through his work, one is able to gain a good understanding of the importance of establishing or finding alternative ways of improving personal religious practices other than opting to convert to another religion. In my view, Dalai Lama has managed to exemplify Buddhism tradition in a very effective manner.
Works Cited
Bradley, Paul. This Strange Eventful History: A Philosophy of Meaning : Pairs of Thinkers in Philosophy, Religion, Science and Art. New York: Algora Pub, 2011. Print.
Harrington, Anne, and Arthur Zajonc. The Dalai Lama at Mit. Cambridge (Mass.: Harvard university press, 2006. Print.
Hattaway, Paul. Peoples of the Buddhist World: A Christian Prayer Diary. Carlisle: Piquant, 2004. Print.
Jha, Rakesh. Sociology of Peace and Nonviolence. New Delhi: Northern Book Centre, 2003. Print.
Mehrotra, Rajiv. Understanding the Dalai Lama. Carlsbad, Calif: Hay House, 2009. Print.
Smith, Warren. China’s Tibet?: Autonomy or Assimilation. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2009. Print.