News and Views on Tibet

OSU sponsors Buddhist conference

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By Rob Brown
Contributing Writer

Along with the weekend snow, Oklahoma State University has been at the center of a flurry of Buddhist activity over the past week.

Geshe Tashi Dhondup and attendant monks visited campus as part of the 2002-2003 Tibetan and Mongolian Monks Tour. They also created a sand mandala in the west lobby of the Seretean Center and had a dissolution ceremony.

Then they gave the keynote address at the fourth annual Oklahoma Buddhist Conference, which was hosted this year by the Buddhist Association of OSU.

The Avalokiteshvara mandala the monks created of sand was swept away and scattered into Theta Pond at a dissolution ceremony Friday evening.

The choice of Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of infinite compassion, was an important one for the times, Dhondup said.

“Out of the many different mandalas, we chose for Stillwater the mandala of compassion, so I believe because of that there will be more peace and compassion in this world,” he said.

Dhondup was born in Tibet in 1957. He became a monk at the Gyumed Monastery at the age of 13 in 1970. Dhondup has not seen Tibet since 1959, when he and his parents fled Tibet and sought asylum with the Dalai Lama.

“In Tibet it is very dangerous at this time,” he said. “There are many tourists visiting Tibet, so because of that (the Chinese government) shows them something that looks good, but really inside, there’s not any freedom in Tibet. It’s very dangerous.”

Dhondup received the title Geshe in 1995 after about 30 years of study.

“Ge means virtues and she means knowing, so (Geshe) means something like ‘person who can know which is the bad and which is the good,’” he said.

He said on this tour he had “visited some universities such as Michigan State and some community colleges.” He said this was a good thing because, “Students are very, very important in this time. Students are the real seeds of the future world. In the future world, if there is to be peace, we depend on the students.

“All those over 50, 60, 70 years old will be dead and gone and the students will be leaders in the new generation, in the future world. Even the leaders of the different countries, they are doing something for the future, but they will be gone after 20 years and when the new generation will come, it is not guaranteed they will go along that same line. So it is very important for students to study all education,” he said.

“It is very important to study with your education, love and compassion and to try to find someone to help,” he said. “Like at OSU I guess there are some professors and teachers who have very good knowledge and very good teachings but their love and compassion and mind are not so good.

Dhondup spoke about the diversity of religion in the world and here on campus.

“Out of all of the students at OSU, there are many different religions,” he said. “Some are Buddhist, some are Christian, some are of Islam, some are of Hinduism, but it is very dangerous to be full of pride in this. All religions are to make good persons and to make peace in this world.”

“Religion is like medicine,” he said. “In this world we have many different illnesses – cancer, AIDS and TB. Some medicine is only for AIDS, some medicine only for cancer, some only for TB. So you take the medicine for your illness. Like illness are our different sufferings and medicine is like our different religions.

“For some people, it is much more comfortable to follow Christianity. Others are more comfortable following Islam, and some are more comfortable with Buddhism and follow Buddhism. Like medicine, we need many kinds of religions in this world. If there is only one religion, that is very dangerous,” he said.

“So like that, we need many different kinds of religions. Which religion is comfortable, you follow, and after that, never be proud in your mind,” Dhondup said. “Like medicine can be poison, religion can be harmful, can make fighting in this world.”

Dhondup urged students to try and spread peace between peoples and countries.

“I hope that of the thousands of students at OSU, maybe one or two will listen to my request and because of that after 20 or 30 years this world will move toward peace, will try to prevent there being third world war. This is very dangerous for all beings, not only for humans but also for animals. If we start a third world war, many people, many animals will die. It is very dangerous,” he said.

Marty Heitz, visiting professor of philosophy and co-adviser to BAOSU, said the conference was a success. He said 120 to 130 people came by throughout the day, which was “a much better turnout than we expected.”

“The general theme (of the conference) was life and death and rebirth,” he said.

The conference featured speakers ranging from the Venerable Yifa, a Zen Buddhist nun from Taiwan and member of the faculty at His Lai University in Rosemead, Calif., to Lydie Meunier, associate professor of French and applied linguistics at the University of Tulsa.

The sessions covered meditation, Buddhist thought on rebirth and Kung Fu movies.

Kara Cook, undecided freshman, said her favorite part was “the meditation because it was so relaxing and different from anything people do in Western Culture.”

Heitz called the conference “A nice scattering, a diversity of Buddhists.”

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