A few weeks ago the Dalai Lama spent ten hours on the campus of MIT. In addition he
spoke to over 2500 people at the Copley Marriott. All was done in support of
the Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at MIT. The work of
preparing for the visit occupied a host of volunteers and sucked the air out of
many a meeting room as those with interests in the visit jockeyed for position.
In the end all went well, but once again I was reminded that the intersection
of science and matters of the Spirit is filled with traffic.
There is first the rock star status of His
Holiness. Everyone wants a picture and I
would argue that he is the best known religious leader in the world today. That
is saying something in the United States where Christian figures have occupied
the pinnacles of recognition in the decades past.
This 78 year old spokesman for the heart and head
commands attention. His story is a study in courage. James Taylor warmed up the audience on Sunday
and then stepped back to gaze in reverence as His Holiness took his seat.
Everywhere he goes there are those from Tibet who seek to see and touch him
carrying as he does their hopes and dreams. They have not gotten the memo that
he gave up his political role. The resulting security demands are daunting. For
weeks before the events men in black went over every aspect of the visit and it
only took a bit of unexplained white powder to illustrate why their fieldwork
was necessary.
Second, there is the shadow of China hanging over the
visit. The Institute with its interests in China is wary of being too cozy with
His Holiness and there are those who call our courage into question, but the
line between being courageous and being foolish is often seen but seldom
defined. Put another way, it is easy to be courageous when you have nothing at
stake, harder when you do. The minimal attention paid the visit caused some
tense moments when folk arrived Monday morning to find the large parking lot in
the middle of campus full of security types and command centers. Nothing riles a university like a lost
parking space!
The visit had three parts. There was public teaching
and conversation on Sunday that dealt with his new book: Beyond Religion:
Ethics for a Whole World. Joining His Holiness were Thomas Keating, the founder
of the Centering Prayer Movement, now in his 90s, and David Stendahl-Rast who
speaks of gratitude as key to the good life. The conversation went on for over
two hours and when it was over folks left challenged by the wisdom of elders. I
left wondering if there was not a bit too much talk about evolutionary
improvement and too little talk about gratitude.
The next day was ordered around conversations
Global Systems 2.0 | A
panel conversation with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and other luminaries read the poster.
Panelists included John Sterman, Rebecca Henderson, James Orbinski,
Jonathan Foley, and others.
Panel I: Ethics,
Economy, and Environment
Panel II: Peace,
Governance, and Diminishing Resources
One friend known for
low tolerance for posturing claimed he had left for the first time in recent
conversations about the environment feeling some hope. The auditorium was not
filled, but then the publicity had been modest. Rock stars do not overturn well
honed behavior when it comes to academics.
Tuesday Kresge
Auditorium was filled for a morning of teaching about Buddhism for the 21st
century. It is the tenth anniversary of the rebirth of the Buddhist community
at MIT and it was appropriate for attention to be paid to sacred texts. During the visit there were other speakers
and other gatherings. It was Family Week-End and there was more than enough
activity to keep everyone spinning.
It is remarkable,
therefore, that in the middle of it all there was the Dalai Lama, seen by some,
missed by most. It could have been so much more, but in retrospect it was what
it needed to be: a time for some to pause and ponder. In this community where hyperactivity
is a golden calf I do not think you can ask for more. A graduate put it all in
context:
I was privileged to attend Brother David's
talk on Saturday, His Holiness's panel discussion on Sunday, and the MIT
conference yesterday. I wish I could have attended all of the events
surrounding His Holiness's visit, but the three events I attended were for me
an extraordinarily rich blessing.
Furthermore, as an undergraduate student at
MIT in the 1980s, and subsequently as an alumna, I have been dismayed at the
absence of any substantive ethics discussion either in the classes I was
offered or (apparently, at least from my outside perspective) within the
Institute or its Corporation. In all the world there is perhaps no
other institution that is more obligated by its stature and purpose to lead in
the field of ethics, and it was a sore absence. I am thrilled and
grateful that you are encouraging rigorous and compassionate practice of the
discipline of ethics there, at the Institute, and here, within ourselves.
In leading so deftly, so warmly, so
admirably, the Center has given all of us a great gift. I was
surprised to hear myself remarking to a friend last evening that after the past
three days I feel the Center has even helped me to feel more kindly toward my
alma mater, with which I have always had a powerfully ambivalent relationship.
There are no doubt countless more fruits of your very practical modeling
of compassion, and I am grateful to you for mine, and for all the others
experienced by people I will never know.
May you continue to be blessed in your
ministry and in your personal path.
We are grateful!
Robert M. Randolph
Chaplain to the Institute
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
