What Would the Dalai Lama Do?

By The Very Rev. Dr. Brian Baker, Dean of the Cathedral
Trinity Cathedral, Sacramento, California

Written for the Sacramento News and Review

Last year, while living in Sun Valley, Idaho, I was asked to organize a meeting between His Holiness the Dalai Lama and local religious leaders. The intention was to build bridges between religious groups that often demonize one another. We hoped that the Dalai Lama’s message of compassion would help. In order to make any real difference, this meeting had to include conservative religious leaders who sincerely believed their religion was the only valid path to salvation. After a great deal of effort, several conservative Christians decided to attend. Others refused, concerned that their attendance would be interpreted as an endorsement of a religion that they thought was invalid.

Prior to the Dalai Lama’s visit, I held several pre-meetings. I wanted to begin the bridge building work and give participants a chance to ask questions about Tibetan Buddhism. I remember my first meeting. Around the table were a Tibetan Buddhist monk, a Rabbi, two Mormon Bishops, a Religious Science minister and several Christian ministers, including the pastor of a fundamentalist Bible Church. I knew that those gathered around the table believed very different things and I feared that we would get bogged down in pointless debates of doctrine and would fail to find common ground.

Tenzin, the Dalai Lama's aide for this visit, set the stage. He began by simply stating, "His Holiness has three promotions." Meaning that the Dalai Lama is interested in promoting three things. "Human value, religious harmony and world peace."

Bingo! Common ground. It was that simple. Gone was the need to argue over doctrine. We became allies is promoting the dignity of every human being, religious harmony and world peace. The order seemed to be important. Tenzin said human value was the pot or vessel into which religious harmony is poured. When that is achieved, you have world peace.

Given a goal we could all accept, we then had a fruitful and energizing conversation that moved from the abstract, "is it OK to fight for human value?" To the practical, "how can different religious groups in the Wood River Valley work together?" One evangelical Christian asked how, given the fact that he believed that Jesus was the only true way to peace, could he work with other religions for the benefit of all. The conversation was honest and positive. And the ground on which we met was holy.

I wonder if in our world of deep religious divisions, we haven’t made interfaith relationships more difficult that they need to be.

Brian Baker
October 2006