Question: What were your first feelings on being recognized as the Dalai Lama? What did you think had happened to you?
Answer: I was very happy. I liked it
a lot. Even before I was recognized, I often told my mother that I was
going to Lhasa. I used to straddle a window sill in our house
pretending that I was riding a horse to Lhasa. I was a very small child
at the time, but I remember this clearly. I had a strong desire to go
there. Another thing I didn't mention in my autobiography is that after
my birth, a pair of crows came to roost on the roof of our house. They
would arrive each morning, stay for while and then leave. This is of
particular interest as similar incidents occurred at the birth of the
First, Seventh, Eighth and Twelfth Dalai Lamas. After their births, a
pair of crows came and remained. In my own case, in the beginning,
nobody paid attention to this. Recently, however, perhaps three years
ago, I was talking with my mother, and she recalled it. She had noticed
them come in the morning; depart after a time, and then the next
morning, come again. Now, the evening the after the birth of the First
Dalai Lama, bandits broke into the family's house. The parents ran away
and left the child. The next day when they returned and wondered what
had happened to their son, they found the baby in a corner of the
house. A crow stood before him, protecting him. Later on, when the
First Dalai Lama grew up and developed in his spiritual practice, he
made direct contact during meditation with the protective deity,
Mahakala. At this time, Mahakala said to him, Somebody like you who is
upholding the Buddhist teaching needs a protector like me. Right on the
day of your birth, I helped you. So we can see, there is
definitely a connection between Mahakala, the crows, and the Dalai
Lamas.
Another thing that happened, which my mother remembers very
clearly, is that soon after I arrived in Lhasa, I said that my teeth
were in a box in a certain house in the Norbulinka. When they opened
the box, they found a set of dentures which had belonged to the
Thirteenth Dalai Lama. I pointed to the box, and said that my teeth
were in there, but right now I don't recall this at all. The new
memories associated with this body are stronger. The past has become
smaller, vaguer. Unless I made a specific attempt to develop such a
memory, I don't recall it.
Question: Do you remember your birth or the womb state before?
Answer: At this moment, I don't remember. Also, I
can't recall if at that time when I was a small child, I could remember
it. However, there was one slight external sign perhaps. Children are
usually born with their eyes closed. I was born with my eyes open. This
may be some slight indication of a clear state of mind in the womb.
Question: Between the ages of sixteen and eighteen, after you assumed temporal power, did you change?
Answer: Yes, I changed a little bit. I underwent a
lot of happiness and pain. Within that and from growing, gaining more
experience, from the problems that arose and the suffering, I
changed. The ultimate result is the man you see now (laughter).
Question: How about when you just entered adolescence? Many people have
a difficult time defining themselves as an adult. Did this happen to
you?
Answer: No. My life was very much in a routine. Two
times a day I studied. Each time I studied for an hour, and then spent
the rest of the time playing (laughter). Then at the age of 13, I began
studying philosophy, definitions, debate. My study increased, and I
also studied calligraphy. It was all in a routine though, and I got
used to it. Sometimes, there were vacations. These were very
comfortable; happy. Losang Samten, my immediate elder brother, was
usually at school, but during these times he would come to visit. Also,
my mother would come occasionally and bring special bread from our
province of Amdo. Very thick and delicious. She made herself.
Question: Are there any of your predecessors in whom you have a special interest or with whom you have a particular affinity?
Answer: The Thirteenth Dalai Lama. He brought a lot
of improvement to the standards of study in the monastic colleges. He
gave great encouragement to the real scholars. He made it impossible
for people to go up in the religious hierarchy, becoming an abbot and
so forth, without being totally qualified. He was very strict in this
respect. He also gave tens of thousands of monks' ordinations. There
were his two main religious achievements. He didn't give many
initiations, or many lectures. Now, with respect to the country, he had
great thought and consideration for statecraft. The outlying districts
in particular. How they should be governed and so forth. He cared very
much how to run the government more efficiently. He had great concern
about our borders and that type of thing.
Question: During the course of your life, what have been your greatest
personal lessons or internal challenges? Which realizations and
experiences have had the most effect on your growth as an individual?
Answer: Regarding religious experience, some
understanding of shunya (emptiness: lack of independent self nature)
some feeling, some experience and mostly bodhichitta, altruism. It
has helped a lot. In some ways, you could say that it has made me into
a new person, a new man. I am still progressing. Trying. It gives you
inner strength, courage, and it is easier to accept situations. That's
one of the greatest experiences.
Question: When you became a refugee, what helped you gain this
strength? Was it the loss of your position and country, the fact of
everyone suffering around you. Were you called on to lead your people
in a different way than you had been accustomed to?
Answer: Being a refugee is really a desperate,
dangerous situation. At that time, everyone deals with reality. It is
not the time to pretend things are beautiful. That's something. You
feel involved with reality. In peace time, everything goes
smoothly. Even if there is a problem, people pretend that things are
good. During a dangerous period, when there's a dramatic change, then
there's no scope to pretend that everything is fine. You must accept
that bad is bad. Now when I left the Norbulinka, there was danger. We
were passing very near the Chinese military barracks. It was just on
the other side of the river, the Chinese check post there. You see, we
had definite information two or three weeks before I left, that the
Chinese were fully prepared to attack us. It was only a question of the
day and hour.
Question: About you being the incarnation of the bodhisattva of
infinite compassion, Avalokiteshvara. How do you personally feel about
this? Is it something you have an unequivocal view of one way or
another?
Answer: It is difficult for me to say
definitely. Unless I am engaged in a meditative effort, such as
following my life back, breath by breath, I couldn't say exactly. We
believe that there are four types of rebirth. One is the common type
wherein, a being is helpless to determine his or her rebirth, but only
reincarnates in dependence on the nature of past actions. The opposite
is that of an entirely enlightened Buddha, who simply manifests a
physical form to help others. In this case, it is clear that the person
is Buddha. A third is one who, due to past spiritual attainment, can
choose, or at least influence, the place and situation of rebirth. The
fourth is called a blessed manifestation. In this the person is blessed
beyond his normal capacity to perform helpful functions, such as
teaching religion. For this last type of birth, the person's wishes in
previous lives to help others must have been very strong. They obtain
such empowerment. Though some seem more likely than others, I cannot
definitely say which I am.
(Follow up question)
Question: From the viewpoint then of the realistic role you play as
Chenrezi, how do you feel about it? Only a few people have been
considered, in one way or another, divine. Is the role a burden or a
delight?
Answer: It is very helpful. Through this role I can
be of great benefit to people. For this reason I like it: I'm at home
with it. It's clear that it is very helpful to people, and that I have
the karmic relationship to be in this role. Also, it is clear that
there is a karmic relationship with the Tibetan people in
particular. Now you see, you may consider that under the circumstances
, I am very lucky. However, behind the word luck, there are actual
causes or reasons. There is the karmic force of my ability to assume
this role as well as the force of my wish to do so. In regard to this,
there is a statement in the great Shantideva's Engaging in the
Bodhisattva Deeds which says, As long as space exists, and as long as
there are migrators in cyclic existence, may I remain removing their
sufferings. I have that wish in this lifetime, and I know I had that
wish in past lifetimes.
(Follow up question)
Question: With such a vast goal as your motivation, how do you deal with your personal limitations, your limits as a man?
Answer: Again, as it says in Shantideva, If the
blessed Buddha cannot please all sentient beings, then how could
I. Even an enlightened being, with limitless knowledge and power and
the wish to save all others from suffering, cannot eliminate the
individual karma of each being.
(Follow up question)
Question: Is this what keeps you from being overwhelmed when you see
the suffering of the six million Tibetans, who on one level, you are
responsible for?
Answer: My motivation is directed towards all
sentient beings. There is no question, though, that on a second level,
I am directed towards helping Tibetan. If a problem is fixable, if a
situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no
need to worry. If it's not fixable, then there is no help in
worrying. There is no benefit in worrying whatsoever.
(Follow up question)
Question: A lot of people say this, but few really live by it. Did you always feel this way, or did you have to learn it?
Answer: It is developed from inner practice. From a
broader perspective, there will always be suffering. On one level, you
are bound to meet with the effects of the unfavorable actions you
yourself have previously committed in body, speech or mind. Then also,
your very own nature is that of suffering. There's not just one factor
figuring into my attitude, but many different ones. From the point of
view of the actual entity producing the suffering, as I have said, if
it is fixable, then there is no need to worry. If not, there is no
benefit to worrying. From the point of view of the cause, suffering is
based on past unfavorable actions accumulated by oneself and no
other. These karmas are not wasted. They will bear their fruit. One
will not meet with the effects of actions that one has not done
oneself. Finally, from the viewpoint of the nature of suffering itself,
the aggregates of the mind and body have as their actual nature,
suffering. They serve as a basis for suffering. As long as you have
them you are susceptible to suffering. From a deep point of view, while
we don't have our independence and are living in someone else's
country, we have a certain type of suffering, but when we return to
Tibet and gain our independence, then there will be other types of
suffering. So, this is just the way it is. You might think that I'm
pessimistic, but I am not. This is how, through Buddhist teaching and
advice, we handle situations. When fifty thousand people in the Shakya
clan were killed one day, Shakyamuni Buddha, their clansman, didn't
suffer at all. He was leaning against a tree, and he was saying, I am
a little sad today because fifty thousand of my clansmen were
killed. But he, himself, remained unaffected. Like that, you see
(laughter). This was the cause and effect of their own karma. There was
nothing he could do about it. These sorts of thoughts make me stronger;
more active. It is not at all a case of losing one's strength of mind
or will in the face of the pervasive nature of suffering.