The Dalai Lama is the ultimate authority figure for every Buddhist on the planet, the one who unites the Tibetan people around him. Historically, Dalai Lamas were the rulers of Tibet – both in religious and official ways. Thus, one can imagine that, if the Dalai Lama XIV is not to get reincarnated, Tibet would need to quickly shift towards a new way of governing itself. Moreover, the Dalai Lama is considered a teacher of Buddhism of the highest-ranking, promoting and explaining the religion to both the ones who already profess it and those who do not. According to Van Voorst (2020), “the current Dalai Lama has traveled around the world for speaking engagements and Tibetan Buddhist rituals, and he meets regularly with national leaders to plead the cause of Tibet” (120). If there is no new Dalai Lama, the Buddhists all around the world would suffer, and the official religious apparatus would need to compensate for it.
While there are indeed many teachers among the representatives of the religion, no one is said to have such understanding of it as the Dalai Lama, as he is considered the reincarnation of Bodhisattva of Compassion named Avalokiteshvara. The world needs the Dalai Lama, as he is the promoter of compassion, non-aggression, and moral values and often speaks on the issues the global community is facing (eternal888B, 2007). If the new Dalai Lama is chosen and named, it would give hope to both Buddhists and non-Buddhists all around the world, as it would mean that Buddha is sending his word of compassion into the world.
The interview with the Dalai Lama XIV shows that Buddhism is not so much a religion as it is a philosophy of life – the one that promotes compassion and good deeds above everything else. Seeing the Dalai Lama speak about heaven and how anyone, even an animal, can achieve it through constant self-improvement made me think about how much more human-oriented Buddhism is than any other religion. In Buddhism, gods do not matter, and even the Dalai Lama, who is proclaimed a literal deity, says himself that he is just a human and that he has a long way toward enlightenment. Only one’s actions and values influence their next life, and if one strives for compassion and kindness, then one will achieve happiness through hard work.
Works Cited
eternal888B. “The Dalai Lama Interview.” YouTube, 2007, Web.
Van Voorst, Robert E. RELG: World, 4e. Cengage Learning, 2020.