Did Dalai Lama hail India as a 'role model for religious harmony in the world'?

In the midst of the rise of right-wing outfits in the country, the Dalai Lama hailed India as a “role model for religious harmony in the world” in his lecture at the two-day long virtual event on ‘Maha Satipatthana Sutta’ (the great discourse on establishing awareness or mindfulness) for Theravada Sangha.

Hundreds of Buddhist lamas from Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand, attended the event, which was organised by the Sri Lankan Tibetan Buddhist Brotherhood Society on ‘Unduvap Full Moon Poyaday’.(a special religious day for Sri Lankans)

More than six hundred Maha Sangha representing the three main Nikayas of Sri Lanka participated in the programme. The Dalai Lama however attended the event virtually from his home in Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh.

According to the Dalai Lama, the Indian religious tradition teaches non-violence, and not to harm others. And, that non-violence – Ahimsa and Karuna – have been practised in India for over 3,000 years. Hence, the Dalai Lama added that in India different religious traditions of the world such as Islam, Christianity, Jew and Judaism and so forth live together.

“India is an example, a role model for religious harmony in the world. Since I came to exile in India as a refugee, the practice of non-violence and religious harmony I found to be excellent in India,” he stressed.

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The Dalai Lama went on to talk about how Buddha himself has given people the freedom to analyse his own teachings and not to take them at face value. Therefore, to encourage the spirit of questioning, in the Nalanda tradition there is great emphasis on analysing and critiquing the teachings of the Buddha.

Hence, the more you analyse the teachings of Buddha through rational thinking, the greater the certainty you gain, he pointed out. He urged his listeners to analyse Buddha’s teachings rationally and the greater the certainty they would gain. “It’s not like the more you do analyses of teaching you lose the track of your analyses and just stick to the faith alone. It’s not like that. So, what we need is to develop faith in the teachings of the Buddha”, he said, adding that people should cultivate confidence in Buddha’s teachings.

The Buddhist monks at the event posed several questions to the Dalai Lama about the teachings of Buddha. They even asked if ‘Mahasatipatthana’ can be imparted to non-religious people in the world.