Artryst.com: Design by Gregory Tarnoff

Quote: Live from His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

Speaking on happiness at Colgate University this afternoon, His Holiness the Dalai Lama ended his speech with the following quote which points to the underlying root of what will bring peace to this world.

All religious traditions have the same potential, therefore we must respect all tradition. -Dalai Lama

Take respect in each other and each person’s traditions. If you don’t understand them, ask for explanations. Do not argue, but with permission you can discuss the differences between your traditions and theirs. If we work on this as a planet, we can achieve greater things than we already have.

Update

During his Q&A section the Dalai Lama was asked what can be done from the spiritual person to help those without spirituality. He made a very poingant case for leading by example, but most of:

Unless the non-spiritual person asks to be taught about Buddhadharma, do not teach Buddhadharma.

He further explained, that while this is the Buddhist way, it is a truth that all people regardless of religion should follow. This received a very loud round of applause from the audience at Colgate University. For more information and hopefully a link to access the recorded webcast, check out Colgate’s website.

Green Website for a Day, Green for Life

Happy Earth Day! I thought I would take a few moments to detail those things that I have been working hard on this year to do in order to contribute to a greener world. I am not going to preach on global warming as I think we are only beginning to understand what is happening.

This past year I have been conscious of everything that I do and its effect on my surroundings. As such I have take the following actions and I encourage you to take similar ones for yourself.
more »

Violence at the Top of the World: Lhasa Rocks From Violent Protests

I truly do try and stay away from politics, but as I have mentioned here before and quote often, I hold the Dalai Lama in particular and Tibetan Buddhists in general in high regard. This week while commemorating the 49th anniversary protest that ousted the Dalai Lama from his home and his people, Buddhists monks during a peaceful protest in Lhasa, Tibet were met with resistance from Chinese soldiers.

Tibetan citizens, not holding to the monks non-violent protest began rioting. There are reports coming from the region that monks have self-inflicted wounds upon themselves (a sign of protest), people are looting, fires are being set to vehicles and shops, and some are dying during this time.  Gunfire has been heard throughout the city. The political and religious turmoil occurring on the “Roof of the World” has forced the Chinese government to actually shut down Mt. Everest at the very beginning of the climbing season. It will be shut until May 10th when a Chinese team is expected to summit with the Olympic torch. The government of Nepal is attempting to negotiate so that the southern route of Everest is still climbable as this is a massive source of income for what is the world’s second poorest country. However they are under great pressure from the Chinese government which is concerned about meeting pro-Tibetan protests during the climb.

Just 5 months before the Olympic games in Beijing, the world should be holding China accountable for their oppressive and genocidal actions (yes I used the “g” word as they are killing off the Tibetan Buddhist people and culture). I hope the major governments of this world, including my own boycott the Olympics in hopes that China backs off the devastation they are creating.

Quotes

Another great quote from the AmidaBuddha.org website:

War can only be understood and put an end to if you and all those who are concerned very deeply with the survival of man, feel that you are utterly responsible for killing others. What will make you change? - J. Krishnamurti

War and Pollution

War and Pollution, originally uploaded by Greg.

This is an illustration I made for Crestock’s Photoshop Contest. Please go vote for me. You will have to sign up for an account with them, but it won’t cost anything. Also you can then get their RSS feed with daily stock photo downloads. You can check out the large size on Flickr.

Update

I have received 5 votes so far this round. Please click on over and vote for me!