by CSW Director Rob Field
I have always admired and respected Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama. In addition to being the leader of Tibetan Buddhism, he served for many decades as the political leader of the Tibetan government in exile. The moment I knew he was someone I would always look up to was when I first heard him say “My religion is kindness.”
As the world around us grows less humane, I am adopting the Dalai Lama’s belief as my own. And I have added one corollary: any religious expression that does not prioritize and insist upon kindness / love / compassion (especially for strangers and outsiders) is simply not worth my time. Are there important priorities other than kindness? Yes. But right now, I am putting kindness at the top of my list.
I wrote last month about the confusion and uncertainty many of us feel, including me. Since then, I’ve identified one north star to guide my thinking and my actions: if a thought, action, group behavior, or governmental policy is not kind, I will resist it. Even in my resistance, I will try my best to be kind.
The enduring religions of the world emphasize kindness and compassion in various ways: for Jews, hesed (loving-kindness) is the preeminent quality of God; Christians point to Jesus of Nazareth as the person who most exemplifies this divine quality; the Indian concepts of karuna (compassion) and ahimsa (non-harm) are both key teachings in Hinduism and Buddhism; Sikhism takes the same values and adds protecting the weak as a hallmark of a just compassion; and in Islam, Allah is often described as ar-Rahim (The Most Merciful), while all Muslims are encouraged to embody this key value.
Religion is not a requirement. If you consider yourself spiritual but not religious, you could do far worse than choosing kindness as a core principle. It may be falling out of fashion, but compassion is one of the best ways to hold onto an essential part of our humanity.
I am grateful to have been raised in a tradition that sometimes uses the following words at the end of communal worship: Life is short, and we don’t have much time to gladden the hearts of those with whom we journey along the way; so let us be swift to love and make haste to be kind.*
Friends: can I get an Amen?
*saying first attributed to Henri F. Amiel, a 19th century Swiss writer
photo of child & goat by Getty Images via Unsplash