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Our Humanity towards Each Other
On Saturday I received an e-mail from a young friend in India, a monk. He was a student of my partner, and a friend to both of us during our time in Dharamsala. Although his home monastery is in South India, with permission from his superiors, he travels frequently and spends quite a bit of time in Dharamsala learning English and computer skills.
His dream is to help young Tibetans through political action, and to do this he needs both those skills. Once monks get through their junior level training, it seems that they are channelled by their masters into the work they are suited for. I can picture our friend, in the years to come, traveling around the world to western countries, giving political talks. That is the job of some monks; I think of them as ‘political monks’.
While monks are at their home monastery their basic living expenses are covered: food and clothing mainly. But when they travel to further their skills and to attend special teachings, they receive no help. They live by the good graces of their friends.
We had sent our friend some money a while back (unasked for), as we knew he had very little. In his e-mail on Saturday, he said he had very little money, was eating only two meals a day, and had given the money we sent to his cousin for his young daughter who is sick in hospital. He told us how hard it was for him to send this e-mail, as he didn’t want to ruin our friendship. But he’d decided to take the risk, be brave, and ask us for financial help.
Once again I feel humbled to have this young Tibetan monk as my friend. His purpose in life, and that of so many others we met (both monks and laypeople), is to help other Tibetans. They do this by learning as much as they can, developing the skills to teach others or to spread the word about Tibetans to the world. And by studying Tibetan Buddhism and attending as many teachings as they can with H.H. the Dalai Lama and other high lamas.
These indomitable young Tibetans don’t put themselves first, they look to the good of the whole. They have many western friends and teachers, and graciously accept the offer of English conversation or tutoring and gifts of meals, money or shoes, but they seldom ask for anything.
To me they are models of humanity to others.
