I am a Marxist, Dalai Lama says

KOLKATA: Describing himself as a Marxist, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Tuesday said many Marxist leaders have now become capitalists in thinking.

“As far as social-economic theory is concerned, I am still a Marxist,” the spiritual leader said adding that he admires Marxism because of its focus on reducing gap between the rich and the poor.

“Many Marxist leaders are now capitalists in their thinking. It depends on their motivation, thinking, wider perspective,” the spiritual leader said during a lecture on world peace in Presidency University.

“In capitalist countries, there is an increasing gap between the rich and the poor. In Marxism, there is emphasis on equal distribution. That is very crucial to me,” he said.

He blamed discrimination against women and those from low-castes for hampering peace in India, but said, “Muslims in India are living more safely than the Shias of Pakistan.”

The Dalai Lama greets the audience as he arrives to speak on “A Human Approach to World Peace” at Presidency Univeristy in Kolkata, on January 13, 2015.

How To Live & Die

The Man in the Bulb meditates on the dying of the light
Khushwant Singh

Death is rarely spoken about in our homes. I wonder why. Especially when each one of us knows that death has to come, has to strike. It’s inevitable. This line from Yas Yagana Changezi says it best: Khuda mein shak ho to ho, maut mein nahin koi shak (You may or may not doubt the existence of God, you can’t doubt the certainty of death). And one must prepare oneself to face it.

Obama meets Dalai Lama, defies China

by AFP

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama welcomed Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama to the White House Friday, defying China, which said the meeting would “seriously impair” ties between the two countries.

The encounter took place in the Map Room on the ground floor of the president’s residence and not the Oval Office, which Obama usually uses to meet foreign leaders and visiting dignitaries.

“The president is currently meeting w/His Holiness the @DalaiLama in his capacity as an internationally respected religious & cultural leader,” the US National Security Council said on Twitter.

Read more » DAWN
http://www.dawn.com/news/1088564/obama-meets-dalai-lama-defies-china

The Dalai Lama speaks out against the killings.. “Killing people in the name of religion is unthinkable.. I pray for them (the Buddhists in Myanmar) to think of the face of Buddha.”

Dalai Lama Urges Peace In Myanmar, Asks Monks To ‘Remember The Buddhist Faith’

As the violence in Myanmar continues, the Dalai Lama urged monks to act according to the peaceful principles of their religion and told them to “remember the Buddhist faith.”

The Dalai Lama made his remarks to reporters at an annual human rights conference in Prague, capital of the Czech Republic. He went on to say that there was “too much emphasis on ‘we’ and ‘they'” in the world, and declared that “this century should be a century of dialogue, not wars.”

Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim minority have been the main victims of the sectarian clashes that last year left around 200 people dead in the state of Rakhine, and a further 140,000 without homes. They are especially vulnerable as about 800,000 Rohingya Muslims are deprived of citizenship rights due to discriminatory policies.

Read more » Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/18/dalai-lama-peace-myanmar_n_3947838.html?utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false#sb=222930b=facebook

Via Facebook

There are only two ways to live your life

– In the center of our own body, there is a small shrine in the form of a lotus flower. And within it can be found a small space. The heavens and the earth are there; the sun, the moon, and the stars, fire and lightning and winds the whole universe dwells within our hearts – adapted from the Upanishads.

– We can never get peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves. – His Holiness the Dalai Lama

– There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.- Albert Einstein