Asked about the rising suicide rate in Taiwan, visiting Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama yesterday counseled suffering souls not to let their frustration cause them to take their lives.
The Dalai Lama advised people who might be contemplating suicide to be patient and think clearly before they rush into "extreme decisions, because suffering too, like happiness, is temporary."
PHOTO: AP
Better still, "they should first take a good nap and then rethink it the following morning" after a good night's sleep, advised the Tibetan leader, who holds a doctorate in metaphysics.
Suicide is also a form of murder and hence a sinful act, he said yesterday when asked about Taiwan's rising suicide rate on his third day of teachings on the Heart Sutra, or Prajna Paramita, at the Linkou Stadium in Taipei County.
As a joke, the Dalai Lama shared a story about a businessman in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa who decided to kill himself by jumping into a river one day, but lacked the courage to do so. To make himself drunk before diving into the water, he bought a bottle of wine -- but the wine ended up saving his life. "He returned home with an empty bottle," said the Dalai Lama, chuckling, adding that the man changed his mind after getting himself inebriated.
Nearly 10,000 people, including several hundred Tibetan monks, attended the teachings. The four-day teachings, which began on Monday, have dealt mainly with the Buddhist concept of emptiness -- or Sunyata in Sanskrit -- that proposes that everything is immaterial and hence empty.
The concept of "emptiness" is seen as a warm up for the initiation of Avalokiteshwara -- or Kuanyin (觀音) in Chinese -- that the Dalai Lama will perform tomorrow and Saturday. The highly popular initiation is expected to draw a large crowd, organizers said. The first public talk on Sunday attracted an estimated 30,000 people.
But the Dalai Lama said yesterday that the increasing focus on materialism and ostentatious paraphernalia now associated with Tibetan Buddhism may have its roots in China.
"The Chinese sponsors may have spoiled them," he said yesterday, adding that undue emphasis on things external may run counter to the main goal of Buddhism -- which is internal or mental development.
"So you must remember not to learn the wrong lessons," he admonished followers yesterday, most of whom seemed to be devout Buddhists. The attendees, including both lay people and monks, listened to the teachings interpreted into Mandarin from Tibetan.Also See Tibetan:
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