Author: Eminent Contributors
Editor(s): Rajiv Mehrotra
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 2004
Language: English
Pages: 265
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0670058106
Description
Ocean of Wisdom, His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet is revered as a bodhisattva-a reincarnation of the Buddha-by six million followers around the world. He describes himself as a simple smiling monk. Between these extremes of divinity and being human, however, lies a personality fascinating in its own right: a theologian who can debate the intricacies of Buddhism, a philosopher whose thinking influences people around the world, a political and spiritual leader of the displaced Tibetan people, a best-selling author, a son and brother, and simply a friend to many. He is also universally recognized as the best hope for peace and amity in today’s troubled world.
In Understanding the Dalai Lama, Rajiv Mehrotra, personal student of His Holiness, brings together a range of contributors who offer insights into different facets of this remarkable individual. Pico Iyer draws a portrait of a disarming man with an infectious laugh, Robert Thurman gives us a glimpse of the Dali Lama’s spiritual development, and Matthieu Ricard describes a day in the life of His Holiness. The Dali Lama’s deep curiosity, keen insight and high level of scientific sophistication is revealed by Daniel Goleman, while Thupten Jinpa recounts the Dalai Lama’s passion for Tibet’s thousand-year-old intellectual tradition of logic and philosophical debates. The book also includes a syllable by syllable translation of the Dalai Lama’s full name by Jeffrey Hopkins, a poem by UR Ananthamurthy and an extended interview with His Holiness by Rajiv Mehrotra.
Each contribution in this collection represents a personal response to the charisma of a philosopher-king, who is not merely divine but also intensely human.
RAJIV MEHROTRA was educated at the universities of Delhi, Oxford and Columbia. For over three decades he has been a familiar face on public television, notably as the anchor of an in-depth, one-on-one talk show. He is presently secretary/trustee of the foundation for Universal responsibility of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and managing trustee of the Public Service Broadcasting Trust. He is Judge of the Templeton Prize for Spirituality, a trustee of the Norbulinka Institute of Tibetan Culture, and has served on the governing councils of the Sri Aurobindo Society and the Film and Television Institute of India. As an independent documentary film-maker, he has won several international and national awards. He was nominated a Global Leader for Tomorrow by the World Economic forum at Davos.
Rajiv is the author of The Mind of the Guru: Conversations with Spiritual Masters (Penguin, 2003) and is currently working on a biography of the Dalai Lama.
Contents
PREFACE
INTRODUCITON
Rajiv Mehrotra
The Dalai Lama’s Roles and Teachings
ROBERT A F THURMAN
In Search of the Panchen Lama
ISABEL HILTON
Writing with his Holiness
ALEXANDER NORMAN
Making Kindness sand to Reason
PICO IYER
A Simple Monk
SULAK SIVARAKSA
A Very Human Human Being
MARY CRAIG
Compassion in Practice
MATHIEU RICARD
The Ocean of Wisdom
BROTHER WAYNE TEASDALE
A Buddha of Compassion
NICHOLAS RIBUSH
Universal Responsibility in the Dalai Lama’s World View
BHARATI PURI
Universal Responsibility and the Roots of Empathy and Compassion
DANIEL GOLEMAN
Universal Responsibility: A Christian Consideration
RAIMON PANIKKAR
Gentle Bridges and Golden Seeds: The Dalai Lama’s Dialogues with Science
SWATI CHOPRA
The Dalai Lama As A Political Strategist
SENTHIL RAM
A Monarch or a Socialist?
ELA GANDHI
The Dalai Lama and India
DALIP MEHTA
The Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Monastic Academia
THUPTEN JINPA
An Unconventional Tibetan Perspective
BHUCHUNG TSERING
A Journey Through Bylakuppe
ANEES JUNG
In Praise of His Holiness
LAMA THUBTEN ZOPA RINPOCHE
Musings
JEFFREY HOPKINS
The Dalai Lama and History
U R Ananthamurthy
His Holiness in Conversation with Rajiv Mehrotra
NOTES AND REFERENCES
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS