Rev. Danny Fisher

Today’s quote is another from His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, the leader of the Karma Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism, whom I previously quoted and wrote a short bio for in this post. This is it–from his recent interview with Asia Sentinel (that Monty McKeever pointed us to at the Tricycle Editors’ Blog today):

In my opinion, in the 21st century mental peace has become a necessity; it is pursued even more strongly than before. It appears that everyone of this century is aspiring for inner peace much more strongly than before; it is not a matter of different religious beliefs. Being very profound and extensive in the practices related to the mind, Buddhism is full of skills to bring about mental happiness.

However, being a religion, for some individuals it is bit hard for some individuals to derive benefits from Buddhism. On one hand, one can follow Buddhism sincerely as a dedicated devotee, and on the other hand, in the 21st century, I think it is important to bring about a change to Buddhism and turn it into a social education, and not just remain as a religion, so that even non-Buddhists can study Buddhist teachings on bringing about mental peace and the practice of compassion.

I think it is important not to impose restrictions for them in doing so. For example, as a religious matter, in ancient times yoga was kept secret, as something that not everybody could practice. But now it has become open and accessible as a method to bring about physical health. Some of the skills that we Buddhists have, such as finding inner peace, and developing love and compassion, can be taken as general education.