His Holiness the Dalai Lama's views on war and Iraq conflict
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2003
The following is the English translation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama's views on war and Iraq conflict shared with Buddhist devotees and others on the first day of the Great Prayer Festival,
11 March 2003, in Dharamsala:
The Iraq issue is becoming very critical now. War, or the kind of organized fighting, is something that came with the development of human civilization. It seems to have become part and parcel of human history or human temperament. At the same time, the world is changing dramatically. We have seen that we cannot solve human problems by fighting. Problems resulting from differences in opinion must be resolved through the gradual process of dialogue. Undoubtedly, wars produce victors and losers; but only temporarily. Victory or defeat resulting from wars cannot be long-lasting. Secondly, our world has become so interdependent that the defeat of one country must impact the rest of the word, or cause all of us to suffer losses either directly or indirectly.
Today, the world is so small and so interdependent that the concept of war has become anachronistic, an outmoded approach. As a rule, we always talk about reform and changes. Among the old traditions, there are many aspects that are either ill-suited to our present reality or are counterproductive due to their shortsightedness. These, we have
consigned to the dustbin of history. War too should be relegated to the dustbin of history.
Unfortunately, although we are in the 21st century, we still have not been able to get rid of the habit of our older generations. I am talking about the belief or confidence that we can solve our problems with arms. It is because of this notion that the world continues to be dogged by all kinds of problems.
But what can we do? What can we do when big powers have already made up their minds? All we can do is to pray for a gradual end to the tradition of wars. Of course, the militaristic tradition may not end easily. But, let us think of this. If there were bloodshed, people in positions of power, or those who are responsible, will find safe places; they will escape the consequent hardship. They will find safety for themselves, one way or the other. But what about the poor people, the defenseless people, the children, the old and infirm. They are the ones who will have to bear the brunt of devastation. When weapons are fired, the result will be death and destruction.
Weapons will not discriminate between the innocent and guilty. A missile, once fired, will show no respect to the innocent, poor, defenseless, or those worthy of compassion. Therefore, the real losers will be the poor and defenseless, ones who are completely innocent, and those who lead a hand-to-mouth existence.
On the positive side, we now have people volunteer medical care, aid, and other humanitarian assistance in war-torn regions. This is a heart-winning development of the modern age.
Okay, now, let us pray that there be no war at all, if possible. However, if a war does break out, let us pray that there be a minimum
bloodshed and hardship. I don't know whether our prayers will be of any practical help. But this is all we can do for the moment.
Translated and issued by:
The Department of Information and International Relations, Central Tibetan Administration
Dharamsala INDIA
This is Neale again here...and I want to say that while I respect
enormously the work and teachings of His Holiness, the Dalai Lama,
I must with gentleness say that I surely do not agree with this
portion of his statement...
"I am talking about the belief or confidence that we can solve our
problems with arms. It is because of this notion that the world
continues to be dogged by all kinds of problems.
But what can we do? What can we do when big powers have already
made up their minds? All we can do is to pray for a gradual end to
the tradition of wars."
Nor do I agree with this portion of his statment...
"I don't know whether our prayers will be of any practical help.
But this is all we can do for the moment."
It is my experience that while prayer is a wonderful suggestion and
can bring enormous spiritual energy and power to any circumstance
or situation---and is therefore always highly encouraged---it is by
no means "all we can do for the moment."
In addition to praying "for the gradual end to the traditon of
wars," as His Holiness wisely advises, I believe we can also deeply
examine the root cause of humanity's behaviors of conflict, and
begin now the process of addressing that cause in a healing way.
Those in charge of our world simply do not know how to put an end
to the killing. That is because they either don't understand the
causes of our conflicts or they refuse to acknowledge them.
Human beings are continually in a state of conflict with each other
(as opposed to a state of disagreement, which is something else
altogether) because conflict has always been an acceptable aspect
of human culture. That is, humanity itself has legitimized the
experience, mainly by allowing it to continue virtually unabated
for thousands of years.
How and why have conflict and violence been so legitimized?
It has been legitimized by humans themselves, because humans have
been taught that conflict and violence are acceptable behaviors.
And who has taught them that? I believe that religions have done so.
"Differences" and "conflicts" are, of course, not the same thing.
Our differences do not have to produce divisions, our contrasts do
not have to produce conflicts, and the variations in our beliefs do
not have to bring violence to our lives.
It will always be natural for human beings to have differences,
because human beings are different from each other. Indeed,
differences can be celebrated, for they make us all who we are. The
differences between all living things are the "individuations of
God." And those differences---in our beliefs, in our
understandings, in our expressions of what it means to be
human---do not have to lead to war and massive deaths.
Yet conflicts continue to be a huge part of the human experience,
and for good reason. Humans say that God Himself is the First
Source of this experience, for God has told humanity, through the
sacred scriptures of virtually all the world's great religions, of
His own anger, His own conflicts, and His own violence.
All of those scriptures---the Bible, the Qu'ran, the Bhagavad-gita,
the Book of Mormon, and virtually every other text which has been
devised by humanity's major religions---contain countless passages
in which it is announced that God has vented His anger at human
beings by killing them, or causing sickness and pestilence, or
placing some other disaster in their path.
As recently as ten years ago, apologists for God were proclaiming
that the AIDS epidemic was a scourge sent by God to humanity to pay
for its sins of sexual misbehavior.
This widespread belief in a God who condones and uses violence as a
means of conflict resolution, and of a God who can even experience
conflict itself, is what has informed human teachings about not
only God, but humanity as well.
Many people believe it is "only human" to experience conflict, and
that it is quite natural to use violence as a means of resolving
those conflicts. Because it is so natural, we find it acceptable,
if deplorable. And so, our religions have taught us that deplorable
behavior is acceptable. This is exactly the opposite of what
religions purport to want us to understand, but that has seemed to
make little difference.
Unless and until we change these most basic understandings of human
beings about life itself, and about the living of it with each
other, and about the causes of conflict and the ways that civilized
societies can deal with disagreement, we will never see an end to
the kinds of tragedies we are now seeing in Iraq.
For many years we have been trying to put a band-aid on this
problem. We have been trying to treat it as if conflict was a
political, economic, or military phenomenon. It is none of these.
The central problem facing the human race today is a spiritual
problem. And now we must undertake to provide a spiritual solution.
Putting this kind of solution into place will not be done easily,
nor will it be done quickly. I wish that there were some fast way,
some rapid way, to change human behavior. But I know of no quick
way to do this. Behaviors are created by beliefs, and beliefs are
not changed overnight. Yet, they can be changed over time.
Martin Luther King, Jr. proved this, and demonstrated it. Mahatma
Gandhi proved this, and demonstrated it. Gloria Steinem proved
this, and demonstrated it. So have many other individuals and
groups throughout history. Now it is time for us to prove it once
again.
I am asking humanity, and every human being reading these words
now, to join with us in a gargantuan effort to alter human beliefs
at their most basic level. This is the work of Humanity's Team, and
it is a new movement that is sweeping across the planet, calling
people to co-create a higher outcome, a different result, and a new
way of life for human beings everywhere.
I am inviting everyone to now dream the impossible dream, and join
with us in taking ACTIONS that will begin the process of
reeducating humanity about the reality of God and Life.
There IS something we can do "in the moment" in addition to praying.
We can work to change the most basic ideas that human beings hold
about themselves. We can work to change the most basic ideas that
they hold about God. We can work to change their ideas of what is
acceptable behavior.
This can be done. But it will not be accomplished in one hundred
days, nor will it be accomplished in one thousand days. Yet, let us
begin.
Those words were uttered by U. S. President John F. Kennedy many
years ago when he undertook to place courage and conviction into
the hearts of humanity. I use those words again today, and for
precisely the same reason, hoping for precisely the same outcome,
and knowing that precisely the same adventure is now being
undertaken by humanity itself.
This is the adventure of our own creation. It is the last great
adventure for human beings. It is the Final Frontier. It is the
unexplored territory. Not outer space, but inner space. The space
in which is held our most sacred beliefs, and from which emerges
our most significant behaviors.
If we have objection to the way humanity is behaving today, it is
because of what we have all been taught about the way humanity
should, ought, and can behave. It is time now for a new teaching.
It is time now for a new message. It is time now for a New
Spirituality.
A spirituality that will sweep the earth with the fresh air of
freedom. A new kind of freedom. Not a freedom that gives us civil
liberties. Not a freedom that gives us liberation at last from
dictators and oppressive governments. But freedom from an
oppressive God. Freedom for the human soul.
Humanity's Team is embarking upon a mission larger than almost any
other ever undertaken by a single group on this planet. This is the
"civil rights movement for the soul." It is time to liberate
ourselves from our belief in an oppressive, angry, violent,
punishing, killing God, replacing it at last with an understanding
of who and what Divinity really is.
We can do this. We can accomplish this. But only if we seek to
accomplish it together. That is why, at this time when the world
stands once again on the brink of its own self destruction, I
urgently plead, urge, ask, invite, and encourage everyone reading
these words to become part of this massive new grass-roots movement
to change humanity's collective reality.
For the soul cries out today, who will be on humanity's team?
Go today, go right now, to www.HumanitysTeam.com. Do what you can
do. The world, and the future, await the choices you make at this
hour.
Neale Donald Walsch
author
Conversations with God
P.S. May I depend on you to please pass this on to everyone you
know? Thank you.
