The Spontaneous Concern to Help Others – His Holiness the Dalai Lama Speaks to the Issues of Women

The ideas are not new. In 1989 in an acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize the Dalai Lama said, “Weneed to cultivate a universal responsibility for one another and the planet we share.”

It’s clear that women around the globe today share a vast range of experience together on an ever shrinking planet.

“Our rich diversity of cultures and tradition should help to strengthen fundamental human rights in all communities. Mere tradition can never justify violations of human rights. Thus, discrimination against persons of a different race, against women, and against weaker sections of society may be traditional in some places, but because they are inconsistent with universally recognized human rights, these forms of behavior should change. The universal principle of the equality of all human beings must take precedence,” said His Holiness in Ladakh in 1995.

Connecting women, motherhood and the world in a January 2006 interview with the Dalai Lama, Amitabh Pal, managing editor for The Progressive, asked the basic question, “Apart from Buddhism, what are your sources for inspiration?”

“Human values,” answered Tenzin. “When I look at birds and animals, their survival is without rules, without conditions, without organization. But mothers take good care of their offspring. That’s nature. In human beings also, parents—particularly mothers—and children have a special bond. Mother’s milk is a sign of this affection. We are created that way. The child’s survival is entirely dependent on someone else’s affection. So, basically, each individual’s survival or future depends on society.”

It is important to remember without the care of women toward society what we know as the best of society could crumble.

“Remembering the kind influence of my own mother, I pray that women working for inner peace and, through that, peace in the world, may be blessed with success,” added His Holiness.

[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDXbAPx2kew&rel=0]

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* See His Holiness the Dalai Lama at the 2009 Peace Summit with Maria Shriver (40:11 mins)

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Sources for this article include Associated Press, Phayul.com, SpiritSound Collection, The Theosophical Publishing House, Sakyadita, Magazine of the International Assoc. of Buddhist Women, The Progressive, Long Beach Downtown Gazette, Little Brown and Company Publishing, SFGate, Global Fund for Women, Boise State University, Catherine Cunningham – Nature’s Reflections, Lobsang Wangyal.com and The 2006 California Governor & First Lady’s Conference on Women
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