SOMEBODY BECAME BUDDHA

It's very moving to know that somebody in the past became Buddha. Twenty-five hundred years ago a guy called Siddhartha became Buddha. He actually did those things and made an enormous impact and impression on people—so enormous that we still continue to follow his way and share his ideas. It's very powerful that somebody actually achieved enlightenment and went so far as to proclaim it, and to teach, and to share his life of eighty years with his students. He spoke; he taught; and he showed us how to behave, how to handle ourselves with other people. It's an extremely powerful experience. Enlightenment is no longer a myth or concept, but something that actually did take place. It did happen—I think that is the basis of our conviction.
Trungpa Rinpoche
www.chronicleproject.com

I encourage people not to express their anger, not to let it out. Instead, I have people try to understand why they get angry, what causes it and how it arises. When you realize these things, instead of manifesting externally, your anger digests itself. In the West, some people believe that you get rid of your anger by expressing it, that you finish it by letting it out. Actually, in this case what happens is that you leave an imprint in your mind to get angry again.
Lama Thubten Yeshe / Osel Hita (photo)
www.fpmt.org

We live in a time of profound change. Science and technology continue to expand our ability to understand and change life. Our impact on the environment has grown to the point that we are affecting the planet as a whole. Economies and societies can no longer be thought of separately, for they are intertwined in a global community. Our actions as individuals and as societies affect not just ourselves but our global neighbors. Now more than ever it is imperative that we contemplate and understand our relationship to and the impact of our actions on each other as individuals, as countries, and as inhabitants of our planet.

Tenzin Gyatso
The XIVth Dalai Lama


thecenter.mit.edu

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