(2) Dalai Lama Virus Conversation: Prayer, Practical Compassion, and Pardon.

This is the second of several blogs posts written from a definite Christian standpoint and interacting sympathetically and respectfully with the Dalai Lama's 'Time' article: "'Prayer Is Not Enough.' The Dalai Lama on Why We Need to Fight Coronavirus With Compassion".

The first blog in this series can be read here: https://fidzbit.blogspot.com/2020/04/1-dalai-lama-virus-conversation.html. 
The article can be read in full here: https://time.com/5820613/dalai-lama-coronavirus-compassion/.

The experience of suffering is central to all Buddhist thinking. "Every sentient being" the Dalai Lama says, "is acquainted with suffering and the truths of sickness, old age and death." From the universality of death, it should be self-evident to us that everything is impermanent. We cannot hold anything as permanent because we do not last forever. Pain and suffering are caused and amplified by the fact that we are blind to this self-evident fact of impermanence. We continue to pursue and cling to things which we hope will make us happy but which ultimately we must lose because they have no permanent reality.

From the Buddhist point of view it follows that a certain "emotional disarmament" is needed - to release our grip on the temporary phenomena which we get so personally invested in order to see the world "without the confusion of fear or rage". For the Dalai Lama, the solution is within our reach:

"As human beings, we have the capacity to use our

minds to conquer anger and panic and greed".

This is really essential to what the rest of the article says about how people need to respond to the coronavirus with courage and compassion. Accessing our mental capacity to "conquer" the fear which a temporary problem brings is more important than fixing the problem (in due time, the problem will itself prove to be impermanent). To pray about those things we fear to lose in this pandemic - our loved ones, our future, the global economy, our individual homes - is not enough. These things are impermanent; to do nothing but pray would imply that you are still bound by the fear of loss. The necessity of demonstrating that you have grasped the permanent reality of the inter-connectedness of all living things, and the temporary nature of everything else, which we merely perceive as reality gives traditional forms of Buddhist a strong ethical drive to share what you cannot hold on to with those who are in need. (This ethical demand is often lost in the popular Western understanding of Buddhism as an individualistic "free your mind" spirituality).

There are some similarities here with the Christian compassion ethic. It is no good to see someone in need and say "Oh, I'll pray for you" whilst refusing to share your resources with them. The biblical writer James says:

"If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food

and one of you says to them , "Go in peace, be warmed and filled,"

without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is

that? Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead" (James 2:15-17).

What we believe and what we do are like two sides of the coin. If you have one without the other something is wrong - dead wrong!

Two questions came to mind as I was reflecting on this. First, has anyone ever lived this out perfectly? And second, what happens to those of us who fail?

It seems to me that the honest Buddhist must answer "No" to the first question. Nobody reaches enlightenment - that liberation from bondage to the impermanent which fuels the compassion ethic - without accumulating a positive balance in the 'Bank of Karma' through a large number of reincarnate lives. So even the highest ranking monks have, at some point in a previous life, failed to show perfect compassion.

Ask a Christian the same question and they will answer "Yes - but only one!" The Bible is clear that "Everyone has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God". No of us has lived up to God's standard of faith and works perfectly. My conscience agrees; I know I have failed numerous times. However, in another part of the Bible it says that Jesus "has been tempted in every way like we are but without sin". When you read the story of His life you see someone whose lived a life of intense devotion to God expressed in persistent, persevering fasting and prayer. But he was no hermit! He mixed with real people in their daily lives and showed compassion to everyone in need, weeping with the bereaved and raising the dead, touching the sick and miraculously healing them too. Perfect!

This is closely tied to how Christians answer the second question. Jesus lived that perfect life on behalf of other people. He sacrificed His life as a substitute in place of failures. When people trust Him, it is as though He takes all our sin to His own account, and credits us with His perfect righteousness. So our failures in prayer and practical compassion can be forgiven and God views us as 'justified' or ''made sinless' in Jesus. Christian compassion is not an attempt to earn merit; it is a response to the great compassion which God has first shown to us in Jesus Christ.

In all that I have read on Buddhism, I have never encountered anything quite like these Christian idea of 'forgiveness' or 'justification'. The impression I have built is that, over many lifetimes, 'negative karma' can be outbalanced by accumulating more 'positive karma'. But can the slate ever be wiped clean of all failure, past, present, and future? Can a person ever be sure that they have accumulated enough 'positive' to advance in the next reincarnation? If any of my Buddhist friends want to help feel free to write a comment here or on Facebook!

The next part of the series can be found here: https://fidzbit.blogspot.com/2020/04/3-dalai-lama-virus-conversation.html