The Dalai Lama speaks on compassion and Osama bin Laden

Bodhisattva and Compassion (Credit: Tony the Misfit)

On May 3, wrapped in his crimson robe, a red USC cap on his head, the Dalai Lama sat cross-legged in a white chair at the University of Southern California and spoke about Osama bin Laden and reactions to his death.

His Holiness emphasized the need to find a distinction between the action and the actor; that his action must be brought to justice, but with the actor we must have compassion and a sense of concern. The counter measure, no matter what form it takes, has to be compassionate action, he went on to say. Foregiveness, however, does not mean that one should forget what has been done.

Last month at the University of Limerick, the spiritual leader talked about extending our compassion beyond the world of our friends and “neutral people” to our enemies.  “Once your…genuine sense of concern of well-being reaches your enemy then that compassion is genuine trained compassion, unbiased, limitless, infinite.  That we can do because of [our] marvelous intelligence.

He gave as an example a Buddhist monk who had spent close to 20 years in a Chinese gulag.

“He told me during that period…he faced some danger…danger of forgetting compassion or losing compassion,” said His Holiness.

According to the Dalai Lama, the greatest hindrances to compassion are anger and hatred, emotions we must learn to control to find true happiness.

The Dalai Lama will be in Minneapolis, Mn., May 7 and 8. On the 8th his will give a public talk on Peace Through Inner Peace. You can watch a live Web cast of his talks, teachings and lectures on his Web site.

He will be in Fayetteville, Ark., on May 11, and Newark, Nj. on May 13 and 14.



Follow Yoga for Health and Social Transformation online

Watch video, follow events and interviews from the Yoga for Health and Social Transformation conference held January 2 - 5, 2011, at Patanjali Yogpeeth in Haridwar, India, on YogaGoesGlobal.com.

Leading international scientists, researchers, academicians, yoga leaders, yoga educators and yoga therapists will be discussing  the underlying mechanisms of yoga and the value of its application for health, medicine, and social transformation.

The conference is sponsored by Patanjali YogaPeeth (PYP) under the direction of Swami Ramdevji and Acharya Balkrishnaji.  Dr. Shirley Telles, Ph.D., renowned yoga researcher, will chair the Scientific Program Committee.

The blog will be operated by Julie Deife, the founder of LA Yoga Ayurveda and Health magazine and the founder of the Southwest Yoga Conference and Bob Belinoff, a multi-award winning documentary filmmaker.

Click  to follow the event on YogaGoesGlobal.com.



Greed: How many presents are under your Christmas tree?

In a few hours millions of people will be ripping and tearing the wrapping off all the merchandise that filled their holiday wish lists, plus a few extra items they didn’t ask for but are, nonetheless, delighted to receive.

Here’s the question:  How many Christmas presents will you get this year?  Is it too many?  Is it not enough?  How much is enough?

“I’ve never bought into this Christmas stuff,” a friend recently said.  “We get one present each.”

An appalling thought for many of us, but maybe one is enough.  One good present, or maybe two, or maybe three.  How many presents are under your tree?

Apirigrapha, the last of the five niyamas (ethical disciplines) as given in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali:  freedom from greed.

In Light on Life (Schocken Books; 1966) B.K.S. Iyengar writes:

 "...One should not hoard or collect things one does not require immediately.  By the observance of aparigraha, the yogi makes his life as simple as possible and trains his mind not to feel the loss or lack of anything."

Madonna's asana in the aisles upsets passengers

Madonna doing yoga in the aisles of an airplane!  Oh my! What is this world coming to?

It seems over the weekend a blizzard in the UK detoured the plans of Madonna and everyone else aboard a Virgin Atlantic flight, stranding them on a snowy tarmac at Stansted Airport.  

While they were waiting Madonna reportedly broke out into asana in the aisles irritating some passengers.  Even more upsetting to the trapped travelers, however, was Madonna’s early exit from the airplane.  When the powers-that-be decided everyone had to disembark guess who got off first?  Two-hours-before-everyone-else first!

"It was bad enough having to wait, but then she started doing her yoga in the aisles. After about an hour, a bus came along and took her and her party of about 15 off the plane. The rest of us all had to wait for another two hours," said a passenger on the plane.

Photo credit: el javo2009

Shiva Rea & Demitri Velisarius at Tara Mandala

In September, 2010, during a Yoga & Awakened Sexuality workshop, Shiva Rea and Demitri Velisarius celebrated Global Mala, leading 108 surya namaskar and  prostrations performed as a moving prayer.  The intimate Global Mala event was held at Tara Mandala, a Tibetan Buddhist retreat, in the center's ornate temple and was open to the public. 

Rea, a teacher known for her dynamic yoga and trance dance classes, founded Global Mala in 2007.  It is a day where yoga teachers and students around the world come together, each in their own cities, to honor and unite the global yoga community, raising awareness and funds for a variety of causes.

Donations for the Global Mala moment of thanks and humility led by Rea and Velisarius went to Tara Mandala. The Buddhist retreat founded by Lama Tsultrim Allione is located in a remote, breathtaking part of southwestern Colorado in the San Juan Mountains. 

This is the second year that Rea and Velisarius have led a workshop and Global Mala ritual at Tara Mandala.

Click here to read more and see photos at examiner.com.