Happy Tibetan New Year, Today!

(Left) Beautiful Buddha, painted on a temple wall in Sri Lanka.

Today began with prayers from all faith traditions, in celebration of the Tibetan New Year.

One of the pleasures of my Indian winter is all the time I have for reading. While visiting Sri Lanka, I got a copy of Buddha's teachings, The Dhammapada, in the original Pali language, translated with stories and notes. Such beautiful scripture, so simple and clear.

In honor of my Tibetan neighbors to the north, and with special blessings for the Dalai Lama, whom I joined twice for Peace Pilgrimages (India 1998, Belfast, Northern Ireland 2000), I share these verses from The Dhammapada:




"As a solid rock is not shaken by the wind, even so the wise are not ruffled by praise or blame." 81

[Isn't that freeing?! We are unmoved by what we would call good days and bad days, but those who appreciate us and those who criticize us. We remain.]
Meditating at the feet of giant reclining Buddha. (right)

"Though one should conquer a million men in battlefield, yet he, indeed, is the noblest victor who has conquered himself." 103

[Disciplining myself, being able to know and love and manage myself is the greatest gift I can give myself, and all in my world. When we self conquer, we bring pleasure to the lives of everyone we meet.]

"My mind has attained the unconditioned. Achieved is the end of craving." 154

[The Buddha declared this personal truth when he realized he had found Enlightenment. By ending his craving, he ended suffering, and thus lived in a state of Enlightenment, or True Happiness. When we reflect on our own misery, it is always linked to this simple truth: we are either not getting what we crave, or getting what we don't crave! Once we stop WANTING or CLINGING or CRAVING, peace descends!]

And again we read

"The disciple of the Fully Enlightened One delights in the destruction of craving." 186-187

[This doesn't mean you abandon those values and standards you live by, not at all. We simply let go of that mindless desire for MORE MORE MORE. Think about what you currently want. Can't you easily live without it? Now, feel the peace descend. The chase is over.]

"By degrees, little by little, from time to time, a wise person should remove his own impurities, as a smith removes the dross of silver." 239

[I especially appreciate the Buddha's wisdom here, as he reminds us all to be gentle and loving with ourselves. We need not create drama or hardship for ourselves by rushing into harsh, over-reaching and unrealistic change. Step by step, one day at a time. We slowly free ourselves from the binding of the mind, from our worrisome thoughts and desires.]

The prayer I made at the beginning of the Christian New Year is the same one I offer today. Some might call it a Resolution:

May I experience no misery. May I cause no misery.

Happiest of New Years!