El Karmapa está convencido de que "la educación" It is key to raising awareness about the environment,
New Delhi (EFE)
Mars 12, November 2013
PHOTO: Extracted from freedomparatibet
The potential spiritual successor of the Tibetan leader Dalai Lama, Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje, In an interview with Efe, he asked to put modernity aside and “restore the feeling of the sacred.”” towards nature.
Convinced that “education” It is key to raising awareness about the environment, The Karmapa has presided in New Delhi for five days over the “V Conference on Environmental Protection for Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns”, which concluded today.
The Karmapa, who is the third highest Tibetan authority –the second, el Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, was kidnapped by China, lives in exile with the Dalai Lama in Dharamshala, in northern India.
Despite the distance, Trinley Dorje maintains direct contact with fifty monasteries located in the Himalayas and uses that influence to encourage monks to care for the ecosystem and influence the surrounding communities.
“The job of monks is to do everything in their power to help themselves and others.”, and everyone's happiness depends on what the environment in which they live is like.", Trinley Dorje sentenced, of 28 years, who fled with 16 Tibet years.
China has considered Tibet part of its territory for centuries due to dynastic unions and conquests in the imperial era., But the Tibetan exile emphasizes that their country was independent until it was occupied by the Chinese Army in the 1950s..
The Karmapa's ecological awareness comes from, According to him, of its origins, since until the age of seven - when the reincarnation of the sixteenth Karmapa was revealed- He lived with his family in the mountains, where “the land was sacred in itself”.
“I think most traditional societies were like that.”, But with modernization, people have begun to distrust the values of these societies and assume that the environment is not sacred.”, explained the reincarnation of the sixteenth Karmapa.
To “restore the feeling of the sacred” and recover the ability to “live with the most basic things”, the key is, assured, “wake up from the dream of ignorance in which we live in relation to the environment”.
That “ignorance”, continued Trinley Dorje, explains “extremely sad” events” such as the state of extreme pollution in which the Ganges and the Yamuna are found, the two most sacred rivers in India for both Buddhists and Hindus.
“It is hard to imagine that the Yamuna River - considered biologically dead on its way through the Indian capital- “may be the home of one of our most sacred spirits.”, the Karmapa declared, leader of the “karma kagyu” school, one of the four sects of Buddhism.
The potential spiritual successor of the Dalai Lama and a group of monks and environmentalists went to the banks of the Yamuna yesterday, despite the strong “stench”” that emitted, to “pray for his recovery”.
Among the people who were in front of that group, who were able to witness the “horrible state” in which the river is located, there was Dekila Chungyalpa, director of the “Sacred Land” program, promoted by the NGO World Wide Fund (WWF).
The “Sacred Land” platform” consists of “working with religious leaders around the world” so that thanks to their influence within their communities they can “raise awareness” about the environment “in a way that an NGO could never do”, according to Chungyalpa.
The program director, native of India and Buddhist, He explained to Efe how 2008 began collaborating with “His Holiness” and thus began a “perfect relationship.”” between WWF and the Buddhist community.
“We are the scientists, we have all the practical knowledge, but they have the heart, hope, the spirit; so I think that all this, when it joins, "It's very powerful.", said an excited Chungyalpa.
So, optimistic by the “strength”” of that “hopeful” union, ruled that any ecosystem, including that of the Yamuna River, can recover, “they just need time”.
“With all the pollution and toxic substances that it receives (the Yamuna) we do not give it the opportunity to revive. So the best thing we can do is stop, give him a chance to breathe, take a break, and will live again.", the environmentalist concluded.
