The World of Religions, July-August 2006 —
One of the main reasons for Buddhism's appeal in the West is the Dalai Lama's charismatic personality and his discourse, which focuses on fundamental values such as tolerance, non-violence, and compassion. A discourse that fascinates by its lack of proselytism, to which we are not accustomed from monotheisms: "Do not convert, stay in your religion," says the Tibetan master. Is this a facade, ultimately intended to seduce Westerners? I have often been asked this question. I answer it by recounting an experience I had that deeply moved me.
It was a few years ago in Dharamsala, India. The Dalai Lama had arranged to meet me for a book. A one-hour meeting. The day before, at the hotel, I met an English Buddhist, Peter, and his 11-year-old son, Jack. Peter's wife had died a few months earlier after a long illness and great suffering. Jack had expressed a desire to meet the Dalai Lama. Peter therefore wrote to him and obtained a five-minute interview, the time for a blessing. The father and son were delighted.
The next day, I met the Dalai Lama; Peter and Jack were received just after me. I expected them to return to the hotel very quickly: they didn't arrive until the end of the day, completely overwhelmed. Their meeting lasted two hours. Here is what Peter told me: "I first told the Dalai Lama about my wife's death, and I burst into tears. He took me in his arms, accompanied me for a long time in these tears, accompanied my son, spoke to him. Then he asked me my religion: I told him of my Jewish origins and the deportation of my family to Auschwitz, which I had repressed. A deep wound awoke in me, emotion overwhelmed me, and I cried again. The Dalai Lama took me in his arms again. I felt his tears of compassion: he was crying with me, as much as I was." I stayed in his arms for a long time. I then spoke to him about my spiritual journey: my lack of interest in the Jewish religion, my discovery of Jesus through reading the Gospels, my conversion to Christianity, which was, twenty years ago, the great light of my life. Then my disappointment at not finding the strength of Jesus' message in the Anglican Church, my gradual distancing, my deep need for a spirituality that helps me live, and my discovery of Buddhism, which I have practiced for several years, in its Tibetan version. When I finished, the Dalai Lama remained silent. Then he turned to his secretary and spoke to him in Tibetan. The latter left and came back with an icon of Jesus. I was amazed. The Dalai Lama gave it to me, saying: “Buddha is my way, Jesus is your way.” I burst into tears for the third time. I suddenly rediscovered all the love I had for Jesus when I converted twenty years earlier. I understood that I had remained a Christian. I was looking to Buddhism for a support for meditation, but deep down, nothing moved me more than the person of Jesus. In less than two hours, the Dalai Lama reconciled me with myself and healed deep wounds. As he left, he promised Jack that he would see him every time he came to England.
I will never forget this meeting and the transformed faces of this father and his son who revealed to me to what extent the compassion of the Dalai Lama is not an empty word and that it has nothing to envy to that of the Christian saints.
The World of Religions, July-August 2006.