Wisdom of Forgiveness

“Whenever the Dalai Lama talks about forgiveness, he likes to use as an example the story of Lopon-la, a Lhasa monk he knew before the Chinese occupation.

‘After I escaped from Tibet, Lopon-la was put in prison by the Chinese,’ the Dalai Lama said. ‘He stayed there eighteen years. When he finally was free, he came to India. For twenty years, I did not see him. But he seemed the same. Of course, he looked older, but physically OK. His mind was still sharp after so many years in prison. He was still the same gentle monk.’

‘He told me the Chinese forced him to denounce his religion. They tortured him many times in prison. I asked him whether he was ever afraid. Lopon-la then told me, yes, there was one thing I was afraid of. I was afraid I may lose compassion for the Chinese. I was very moved by this, and also very inspired.’

Forgiveness helped him in prison. Because of forgiveness, his bad experience with the Chinese didn’t get any worse. Mentally and emotionally, he didn’t suffer too much. He knew he could not escape so thought, better to accept reality than to be traumatized by it. His Holiness is convinced that Lopon-la’s power of forgiveness helped him survive all those years in prison without irreparable damage to his psyche.

Forgiveness does not mean accepting the wrong doing of another person. Nor does forgiving others mean we have to agree with their behavior in any way.

During this talk His Holiness will speak about what it means to not develop feelings of anger and hatred due to the wrong action of others because by retaining feelings of anger and hatred towards others will bring more harm to yourself then the act of forgiving them. This is the Wisdom of Forgiveness.

Transport
We encourage you to use public transport to get to the Blue Mountains Public Talk as there is limited street parking. We will be in contact with more information about transport options to ticket holders prior to the event.

Accessibility
For information concerning seating allocation and venue access please contact us on phone 02 9575 4888 or email info@dalailamainaustralia.org