Brookhaven Courier

Issue date: 10/8/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Alma Anuinaga Buddhist monk Kelsang speaks to BHC students on one's wellness.

Buddhist monk Kelsang Chokyan visited Brookhaven College Sept. 26 to give a lecture on compassion and being at peace with one's self.

Chokyan was originally raised Baptist and has been a Buddhist monk for five years.

He said the problem with most people is they are preoccupied with their own suffering. He said people are always thinking of ways to make themselves happy. He talked about a self-cherished mind, obsessed with self-concern.

Throughout his lecture, Chokyan gave different analogies to illustrate that every living being wants to be happy and avoid problems and suffering. He compared humans to ants in the sense that these creatures seek to avoid pain and suffering, however, in different ways.

Chokyan referred to people's problems as delusions of the mind, such as attachment, loneliness, jealousy, fear, anxiety etc. He went on to say there are about 84,000 ways to suffer. Chokyan said most people have no real understanding of the nature of their problems and therefore, they address them in the wrong way.

"The real solution to all free living beings is wisdom … clear understanding of the nature of happiness, the nature of suffering, the nature of pain," Chokyan said.

He explained wisdom, unlike intelligence, always considers the happiness of others. He referred to people concerned about other's suffering as people who are extraordinary because this very seldom happens.

"You should really treasure whatever part of your mind is wishing for others to be free from suffering because this is the mind of an all enlightened being," Chokyan said.

He said an enlightened being is someone who is free from all suffering and problems through developing compassion towards all living beings.

Chokyan said to express compassion to others one must look past their faults. He said according to Buddha living beings have no faults because all of their faults are a product of their delusions.

Chokyan said the minds of every living being are pure and are only tainted by their delusions, which they do not choose. He said just as people do not choose to have cancer, for example, neither do they choose to be sad, angry or depressed. Therefore when people think of others as having faults, they should really just consider these people as expressing their pain.

The lecture concluded with a time for meditation during which students were encouraged to reflect on compassion and acceptance of others.

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