Well, but not this year. . . .
Here is a link to find out more about Losar.
But this year, instead of celebrating a new year, a new beginning, we stand together to mourn for all those who have taken their lives in protest of the Chinese Occupation of Tibet and for all of those who have been killed, tortured, and have fled from their homeland.
During the past year, we have witnessed countless reports of young people who have died by self-immolation and more uprisings in the tortured country of Tibet.
I take a moment as Losar begins by to recite The Four Immeasurables for all those who have known pain and suffering during these decades of occupation and cruelty:
May all sentient beings have happiness and its causes
May all sentient beings be free of suffering and its causes
May all sentient beings not be separated from sorrowless bliss
May all sentient beings abide in equanimity, free of bias, attachment and anger
from www.bodhichitta.net
Here is a Q&A from His Holiness that I found on the net asking about how we deal with those groups who have committed unspeakable acts. . .
From www.viewonbuddhism.org:
“How does a person or group of people compassionately and yet straightforwardly confront another person or group of people who have committed crimes of genocide against them?
His Holiness: “When talking about compassion and compassionately dealing with such situations one must bear in mind what is meant by compassionately dealing with such cases. Being compassionate towards such people or such a person does not mean that you allow the other person to do whatever the other person or group of people wishes to do, inflicting suffering upon you and so on. Rather, compassionately dealing with such a situation has a different meaning. When a person or group of people deals with such a situation and tries to prevent such crimes there is generally speaking two ways in which you could do that, or one could say, two motivations. One is out of confrontation, out of hatred that confronts such a situation. There is another case in which, although in action it may be of the same force and strength, but the motivation would not be out of hatred and anger but rather out of compassion towards the perpetrators of these crimes. Realising that if you allow the other person, the perpetrator of the crime, to indulge his or her own negative habits then in the long run the other person or group is going to suffer the consequences of that negative action. Therefore, out of the consideration of the potential suffering for the perpetrator of such crimes, then you confront the situation and apply equally forceful and strong measures. I think this is quite relevant and important in modern society, especially in a competitive society. When someone genuinely practices compassion, forgiveness and humility then sometimes some people will take advantage of such a situation. Sometimes it is necessary to take a countermeasure, then with that kind of reasoning and compassion, the countermeasure is taken with reasoning and compassion rather than out of negative emotion. That is actually more effective and appropriate. This is important. For example my own case with Tibet in a national struggle against injustice we take action without using negative emotion. It sometimes seems more effective.”
Let us hope that it is with this New Year that we find continued hope and renewed action in saving the Tibetan people and their hertiage. Maybe this will be the year that the world leaders say, enough, we won’t stand by and watch innocent people die. Maybe this will be the year that we help others selflessly rather than for what they or their country have that we can benefit from.
Perhaps this will be the year when the individual will matter more than the state and we will embrace our interbeing with all sentient beings and learn to live compassionately and congruently.
Metta, Jennifer
Related articles
- Don’t Have Heart to Say Happy Losar My Tibetan Friends ! (mevidur.wordpress.com)
- Tibetans cancel New Year celebrations (cnn.com)
- Military crackdown fans the flames of rebellion among Tibetan monks (smh.com.au)
- Inside story: Tibetan discontent smoulders (smh.com.au)
- Compassion Meditation for a Time of War Windmill Buddhist Meditation
- Facets of Metta (Sharon Salzberg)
- ‘My Spiritual Journey,’ by The Dalai Lama (evolutionarymystic.wordpress.com)