The next Dalai Lama might happen to be a woman because kindness and compassion are more important than practicing and scientific progress. Like a breath of fresh clean air on the planet where since the beginning of time men sabre-rattled and yet now and then here and there the fire of war is burning, sound the words of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, the most famous fugitive, Nobel Prize Laureate, symbol of kindness and optimism of the world.
Every mother loves her children and I was lucky to be born to one very kind and nice woman. Very far in the North-West of Tibet in a small village where people existed earning their bread by peasant labour. My parents were illiterate but the warmth of mother’s heart is more valuable than education.
We grew up in the atmosphere of love and it made us the way we are. None of us ever saw her face frowning, being angry or unhappy. Being the youngest in the family I had more of mother’s love than other children. I remember her tenderness and kindness when she carried me as a child on her back by a tradition of our peasant families. I held her by her ears and tried to redirect her movements, turning her head right or left. I remember myself crying if she didn’t obey but she was forgiving many things and did everything she could for us. If I have compassion up to a certain level, her kindness superior to any practice was the beginning of it. The Buddhist education helped me to acquire the altruistic state of mind later on but the seed it grew from was planted by my mother.
Love is the main thing we should keep and carry in our hearts. All of us are someone’s children. Women are the vessel of unconditional love for children and that is why they should play much more significant role in the society.
The era of developed technologies made materialistic attitude dominating and the educational system pays tremendous attention to material values. But even in the most developed countries and societies with the highest level of development people face serious psychological problems. The quantity of suicides among youngsters grows. They don’t feel themselves happy. Millions of people live side by side in megapolises like Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles and others but the main part of them feel lonely.
The wave of violence is growing among young people, they take part in riots. Scientists, doctors, social workers confirm by one vote that the reason is in the lack of human warmness in the existing system. There’s not enough of it nor in the family neither in the society. The competitive atmosphere seeds mistrust, people are not cooperating with each other, there’s no uniting. This is the reason of the human loneliness.
New generations are captured by the material part of life, they develop their cognitive skills, learn new technologies and create the newest. They think that this is the way to the progress, to development. But the flip side of the coin is the lack of kind feelings and sympathy. We have to make as much efforts as we can today to help people develop compassion and warmness of their hearts.
And women can play the leading role in it. It is the imperative of Nature, the part of their brain responsible for empathy is more developed. Scientists made experiments in which the same photographs and videos were shown to the groups of men and women. People felt pain, suffered, were very scared or desperate on the shots. The results of measurements made with the usage of the special equipment showed that women reacted to what they saw stronger on the physical level.
Animal and bird females often take all care of the offspring meanwhile their males often leave them alone to do it. Same is with the Mankind. Once I watched a couple during the flight from Tokyo to Los Angeles. It was a long night flight, the couple with two small children was sitting next to me. The younger one was crying, the elder one was running and at first two parents were busy with them helping each other. But closer to the midnight father of the family couldn’t hold on and keep himself from sleeping, he closed his eyes and fell asleep. Though the mother stayed sleepless through all of the night and took care of their children calming them down one by one. In the morning her eyes were red because of the lack of sleep, so she sacrificed her basic need for rest in favour of calmness and comfort of her little ones. I think that her children will grow up and become kind-hearted and responsive people.
A person who had a lot of love and care in his childhood will become happier, capable of many good things and more self sure as an adult than the one who was deprived of all of it. Often those who grew up without parents seem to be OK, prosperous and strong on the surface but in fact they don’t trust the world and never feel safe deep inside.
Mothers are responsible for the happiness of the new generation. I’m sure that their role should be more serious not only in the ranks of their families but in many different fields of the human activity. The more women we have among leaders the less is the threat of violence, that’s what elementary logic tells me. Women give and keep life. They are prone to saving others and helping them by their nature. Men are more cruel and aggressive. If people decide that Dalai Lama Institution is still needed and make efforts to find a new reincarnation according to our traditions, I’m sure that the new Dalai Lama could be found among women. I really do think so.
My Buddhist teachings in Himalayas and in the other side of them in Ladakh are attended mostly by women of Tibet and Mongolia. This is the obvious sine indicating that it is them who are more prone to listen to the companion lessons. There’ll be always women when help and care are needed, it’s mostly them working as medical nurses in all of the countries. But they rarely do voluntary army duty, there’s always more men when there’s a place for aggression.
I’m sure that we need to make propaganda for the warmth of people’s hearts, love, compassion very much today. And upbringing these qualities is the power of women of the world. They have this potential able to change our society.
Think of it.
