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By Cynthia Karena; Photos by Olivier Adam
Strasbourg, France hosted His Holiness the Dalai Lama on September 17 and 18, 2016. His Holiness taught from Nagarjuna’s Commentary on Bodhichitta, conferred an Avalokiteshvara initiation, and gave a public talk entitled “Ethics Beyond Religion.”
As the weekend of teachings drew to a close, François Lecointre, director of Institut Vajra Yogini near Toulouse in the south of France, was exhausted but glowing. Said François: “For many people, to work on His Holiness’s visit is the memory of a lifetime. It’s long hours of volunteering; you get very tired and you work to your limits. But you can rejoice that in this life you have had the chance to do such a meaningful thing.”
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Ten Buddhist centers representing the four Tibetan Buddhist schools were involved in this visit by His Holiness, François added, including three French FPMT centers: Institut Vajra Yogini, Nalanda Monastery, and Centre Kalachakra. He explained that in the early 1990s, at His Holiness’s behest, Buddhist centers in France created the Fédération du Bouddhisme Tibétain, so there is never just one center organizing a visit. “Whoever wants to join can,” said François. “It is a way to develop links and harmony among centers. And that FPMT centers help to organize teachings by His Holiness strengthens our link to him and preserves the lineage. Lama Zopa Rinpoche has said clearly many times that our number one priority as an organization is to serve His Holiness by all means possible. So it is great to be involved in organizing his events.”
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FPMT volunteers were involved in reception, seating, security, ticketing, as well as other tasks. “The expertise of FPMT people in webcasts was also a great asset,” reported François, adding that, “a record 1.2 million people listened to His Holiness’s public talk on the webcast. For each of the 8,000 people listening in the hall, 150 people were listening in their homes. Don Eisenberg, who works with His Holiness’s office in Dharamsala, came all the way from India to work with the webcast team on this new set-up that people in charge of Dharma webcasts have been dreaming of for years.” The multi-language webcast set-up had been tested earlier at the Light of the Path retreat with Lama Zopa Rinpoche in the United States, he said.
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François likens participating in the event with His Holiness to a teaching on emptiness. “Problems appear, and get solved. For example, out of his great kindness, His Holiness decided the day before the event to start the teachings one hour earlier than had been planned so that he would be able to give us more. Quite a challenge in terms of seating and security. But we sent an email to the participants and most people got here on time; it went OK. You have to let go of fear and expectation. You have to trust. You’re just a small part of the whole, and you can see that everyone has their part.”
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Ven. Gyaltsen, director of Nalanda Monastery, was the treasurer on the organizing committee, and helped coordinate Nalanda’s participation, which included bringing a mandala from the monastery for use in the initiation and providing the carpentry to make His Holiness’s throne. Ven. Gyaltsen underlined His Holiness’s wish for the different schools of Buddhism to work together on this event in order to build harmonious relations. Since some members of the core organizing team from His Holiness’s teachings in 2011 in Toulouse were involved again this time, the different centers have come to know each other well, “which makes for harmony,” said Ven. Gyaltsen. He added, “To participate in organizing this event with His Holiness is very rare. It benefits many beings, and so many on the internet as well. To be a part of that is very precious, it is amazing. If you have the opportunity, you have to take it.” And there are some unexpected joys amid all the stress. “Yesterday I had the good fortune to be invited to eat with His Holiness, with only 20 people. I never thought I’d eat with him!”
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Ven. Elisabeth Drukier, director of Centre Kalachakra in Paris and vice president of the Fédération du Bouddhisme Tibétain, was responsible for the logistics for all organizing committee meetings. It is Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s wish, said Ven. Elisabeth, that FPMT centers help organize His Holiness’s visits, and working on this one has reinforced links between the three French FPMT centers. “Nalanda and Institut Vajra Yogini are close together; I’m far from them, so the event was a good opportunity to work together.”
Ven. Elisabeth stressed that His Holiness’s visit to France was timely. “The country has suffered a lot, and there are still a lot of threats, particularly in Paris, so a visit by His Holiness is important. He brings a message of peace.” As well, in talking to the Fédération du Bouddhisme Tibétain after the public teachings, His Holiness said Buddhist centers should call themselves centers of Buddhist studies rather than religious centers, reports Ven. Elisabeth. “I share these thoughts,” she added, “because people are coming for study, teachings, and meditation, not for religion. Most of the time they keep their own religion of origin.”
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Audience members were also touched deeply by His Holiness’s teachings. One participant, Anne Paniagua from San Francisco, was in a rush to catch a plane back to America, but was happy to share her thoughts about His Holiness. “He speaks from his heart,” she recalled, “he doesn’t speak in abstract terms. At the core, he spoke about how we can develop and change ourselves as a result of our inner action—change ourselves to produce different results.”
His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Steven Laureys, www.olivieradam.net
Laetitia Franceschini, from Toulouse, took away that she had to really study and not rely on blind faith. “Practice is up to me now, turning everything into the path, not just reading something.” She was also impressed that His Holiness spoke about educating the next generation to be compassionate and maintain harmonious relations with others. “I was happy when he spoke about Muslims. His Holiness said that the phrase ‘Muslim terrorist’ is wrong. He said that any person who wants to indulge in violence is not a genuine Buddhist or genuine Muslim. All major religious traditions carry the same message: a message of love, compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, contentment, and self-discipline. It creates stigma for Muslims when one person’s actions brand the whole community. It was inspiring when he spoke about being harmonious with Muslims, and not focusing on one act. That’s very important. I have Muslim friends who barely went outside after the Paris attacks because they felt people were looking at them in an accusatory way. They felt stigmatized. His Holiness’s thoughts carry weight in the world. He’s such an important figure for peace, harmony, and compassion,” she concluded.
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New Zealand-based FPMT nun Ven. Carolyn Lawler commented that she planned to listen to His Holiness’s Strasbourg teachings again, especially those on emptiness. “Emptiness is really what stuck with me. Do you remember how he said that if we have any image at all, however weak, that is not the ultimate state of emptiness? If we have any image whatsoever of any object or situation, then we still have some measure of ignorance in our minds, due to some unpurified afflictions. This makes it so clear that we need virtue, particularly loving-kindness and compassion, to be present with whatever wisdom we have when meeting any person or situation, because we are limited in our view by our ignorance.” She added, “His Holiness’s teaching made me want to read and meditate much more on emptiness in particular, but also on everything taught in Tibetan Buddhism, because it’s all about getting us out of suffering, isn’t it?”
And that’s an outcome from his teachings that would surely make His Holiness smile.
Offering service to His Holiness the Dalai Lama is one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s vast visions for the FPMT organization.
Cynthia Karena has a science degree and a masters in education. She is a freelance journalist and documentary researcher in Australia.