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October 20, 1989 - Image 24

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 1989-10-20

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

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The
Dalai Lama
Discovers
udaism

ARTHUR J. MAGIDA

Special to The Jewish News

The "Presence" and the Jews: An historic encounter of cultures and faiths.

In a New Jersey
encounter between
the Nobel-winning
leader-in-exile of
Tibetan Buddhism
and a group of
Jewish clergy and
scholars, both
learned something
about the other's
religion.

24

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1989

Everything is foreseen by God,
And freedom of choice is given to man;
The world is judged with goodness,
And all depends upon the preponderance
of good or evil deeds.
— From the Mishnah, Avot 3:15

Until I have attained enlightenment
I take refuge
In the Buddha, the Dharma, and
the noble Sangha.
By performing acts of liberality
and other virtues
May I realize Buddhahood for
the benefit of the world.
— From the Tibetan Buddhist text,
"Jewel Ornament of Liberation"

VV

ashington, New Jersey —
Here, in western New
Jersey, past the shopping
centers and the inter-
states and the factory
outlets and the traffic
jams, the first encounter between any
Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan
Buddhism, and Jewish scholars was about
to occur. The meeting was initiated by the
Dalai Lama, who was curious about what
he perceived as similarities between
Judaism and Buddhism and, especially,

between the Jewish and Tibetan experi-
ences of exile. The Jews, for many cen-
turies, had been estranged from Israel;
many Tibetans, for the past 30 years, have
been exiled from their native land, which
has been occupied by the Chinese, who
have tried to erase Tibetan culture and
religion.
But before meeting with the Dalai Lama,
which occurred 10 days before he won this
year's Nobel Peace Prize, there was the
mundane matter of lunch. Scattered about
at five outdoor tables at the Tibetan Bud-
dhist Learning Center here were six Jews
— three rabbis, • and three teachers and
writers — and about eight Tibetan monks
in maroon robes edged in gold. Next to an
associate professor of Northern Buddhist
Studies at the University of Virginia was
a Tibetan in his 30s who, wearing a striped
shirt and pale green V-neck sweater, could
more easily be mistaken for a college stu-
dent than as the personal secretary to the
Dalai Lama. A small, glassed-in statue of
a Bodhisattva perched under the eaves of
an adjacent building looked down upon the
luncheon guests. On top of the statue was
a wheel, symbolizing the Buddhist notion
of the continuity of life and its countless
rebirths.
And about 100 feet below the group,
down a slightly sloping lawn, was a 25-foot
stupa, a conical-topped Buddhist memorial

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