Concluding a two-day visit to Stanford University, California, as part of his US tour, on 17 March His Holiness the Karmapa gave a talk on the theme “Caring Connections: Compassion, Technology, and the Environment.” The event was co-hosted by Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values.
Photograph by Filip Wolak. From karmapainamerica2015.org
This is the Karmapa’s third visit to the US, and he began the talk by saying that he felt it marked for him “a significant step into the future” (The Karmapa). Going on to say that he wanted to explore compassion rather than philosophy or religion, he spoke about his childhood in an isolated part of Tibet, where he experienced seven years as an ordinary child before being recognized as the Karmapa. He explained how this time with his family instilled a strong sense of compassion in him as he listened to his parents praying twice a day with the wish that all beings be happy and free of suffering.
His Holiness said that compassion develops through having “a sense of responsibility in relation to the reality of interdependence” (The Karmapa), and explained that most of the difficulties the modern word is facing stem from not understanding interdependence, as well as from self-clinging. Using the iPhone as an example, he spoke about modern technology and how we look only at the end product. Instead, he encouraged us to look deeply at everything—“all the natural resources and all the human hardships”—that goes into making that end product (The Karmapa). He went on to say that we should not limit our compassion to a concern for the suffering and conditions of the people who work in technology, but should also think about those involved in clothing production in developing countries.
“Compassion means becoming more involved, taking more action, developing more dedication. And that means we need to take more risks,” His Holiness explained. “But our habit as human beings is that very few people seem to enjoy taking risks. We tend to be more comfortable in our habitual zone of having things be easy and smooth for us.” He added that as the world was shrinking, “we’re sharing others’ experiences of happiness and suffering even more” (The Karmapa).
At the end of the talk, Dr. James Doty, director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford, conducted a question-and-answer session in which a range of subjects was addressed, including environmental issues. The Karmapa shared that the environment is a serious issue that “gave rise [in him] to a natural desire to help” because of the beauty of the natural world he experienced as a child in eastern Tibet. “I think it is very important if those of us who are parents can take an attitude of responsibility for future generations as part of our reason for developing compassion,” he said (The Karmapa).
Due to the importance of Tibet and the Himalayan region in the global environment and the influential role of monks and nuns in this area, the Karmapa has instigated an environmental education program at over 50 monasteries. He reiterated that an understanding of interdependence would be of great help in this area, and emphasized the need for compassion among the world’s political leaders and decision-makers.
Following his visit to Stanford, on 18 March the Karmapa visited the headquarters of Facebook, and the next day gave a teaching in San Francisco.