Thought Power

Buddhism was an important ingredient in the philosophical melange of the Indian subcontinent for over a millennium. From an inconspicuous beginning a few centuries before Christ, Buddhist scholasticism gained in strength until it reached a peak of influence and originality in the latter half of the first millennium.

When Buddhism first entered China from India and Central Asia two thousand years ago, Chinese favourably disposed towards it tended to view it as a part or companion school of the native Chinese Huang–Lao Daoist tradition, a form of Daoism rooted in texts and practices attributed to Huangdi (the Yellow Emperor) and Laozi.

Science is the cornerstone of the European-American culture that has transformed the entire globe over the last few centuries. Buddhism is a deeply rooted religious tradition of Asia, now emerging as a powerful global voice. Science and Buddhism both address the nature of human experience, but in quite different ways.

We always use the word, "ego." But although we're all the time saying, "ego, ego, ego," we don't realize the ego's psychological aspects, its mental attitude. We interpret the ego as some sort of physical entity. Therefore, it is necessary to discover that the ego is mental, not physical. That's so worthwhile.

Lama.Thubten.Yeshe.(15.5.1935, 5:00 LMT (6:05 GMT), Töling Dechen/Lhasa/TIB - 3.3.1984, 5:07 PST, Los Angeles/USA), also called "Hippie Lama" was one of the most outstanding personalities of the Seventieth and early Eighties. Beside Chögyam Trungpa he was one of the first Tibetan teachers, who managed to explain Buddhism in a modern and unorthodox way. The result of a careful study of our Western mentality and culture.

The Buddha taught so that beings would be happy and satisfied. Having attained the ultimate happiness of enlightenment himself, out of love and compassion for each sentient being he wanted to share his experience with them all. But he could not transplant his realizations into the minds of others, remove their suffering by hand or wash away their ignorance with water-he could only teach them to develop their minds for themselves, as he had done. Thus he showed the path to enlightenment.

The enlightened attitude, the bodhimind that has love and compassion as its basis, is the essential seed producing the attainment of buddhahood. Therefore it is a subject that should be approached with the pure thought, "May I thus gain enlightenment in order to be of greatest benefit to the world."

On May 8, 2011 His Holiness the Dalai Lama gave the Medicine Buddha empowerment and a public talk on “Peace Through Inner Peace.” Both of these programswere part of the theme “One Heart, One Mind, One Universe” of this visit to Minneapolis, which is co-hosted by the Center for Spirituality & Healing (CSH) at the University of Minnesota and the Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota (TAFM)... His Holiness said extreme self-centered attitude and narrow vision not only did not enable the development of inner peace but also could be harming people physically.