From the July 2017 issue of Lion’s Roar magazine
“The Dalai Lama: Why the World Needs Him More Than Ever''
He is a voice for compassion, nonviolence, and care for the earth. At a time when so much hangs in the balance, 12 leading teachers, writers, and activists reflect on any we need the Dalai Lama and his message more than ever.
The Ordinary Become Extraordinary
Jon Kabat-Zinn
In that sense, he is not special, as he himself never ceases pointing out. But for qualities such as equanimity and kindness to come out in us and flourish usually requires cultivation, which is what meditation is really about. Then, what is "not special'' becomes very special indeed, and what is ordinary becomes extraordinary.
Here, I am not talking just about His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Imagine what the world would be like if more of us were able to undertake that cultivation. If motivated by our own dissatisfaction and suffering, our intuition as to where real happiness might Iie, and our love for the beauty in the world and in life itself - including the unfamiliar other which sometimes scares us - we realize we are so much bigger than our fears and narratives about the world and who we are.
Then, we are just as we are, only awake to it. Nothing is different, except everything.
