A silence fell upon the crowd at the Beacon Theatre in New York City as His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama made his entrance.

The Dalai Lama is the head of state for the Tibetan people in exile, the spiritual leader of Buddhism, a Nobel Peace Prize Winner, the 2006 Congressional Gold Medal Winner and undoubtedly one of the foremost, if not the foremost, spiritual leader of the world. He is truly an ocean of wisdom.

Manhattan's historical Beacon Theatre was an appropriate setting with its ornate gold carvings, sculptures and deep scarlet carpet. One could literally feel the anticipation of the small crowd, some of whom were not Buddhists myself included.

His Holiness walked down the red carpet, prostrated, greeted the crowd and took his position upon the golden, high throne. An elegant, handmade Thangka was the backdrop, and monks clothed in the traditional gold and crimson robes sat on the floor, in two groups, to each side of the Dalai Lama. There were approximate seventy monks in attendance. The monks' mantras and recitations filled the air with vibration. The entire scene was spiritual in-and-of itself.

This event would last three days. During this time, His Holiness taught from the text known as The Blade Wheel of Mind Transformation and performed the Green Tara Initiation.

The Blade Wheel text helps each person to overcome his or her own self-centered mental and emotional habits through gradually transforming the mind to attain balance and happiness. This Buddhist text was originally written in the tenth and eleventh century text by the Indian master Dharmarakshita who fled to Tibet to escape an invasion in India. He was also a teacher of the famous Atisha (982-1054 AD).

In this article, I will attempt to convey the important messages that His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, shared with us. He spoke on several different and very important topics including the mind transformation, religion, compassion, animals, teachers, students, peace, and enlightenment (Buddhahood).

His Holiness he proved to be extremely humble and unpretentious. He was down-to-earth but yet so wise.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Dalai Lama possesses a very comical side.  He often stopped to share his sense of humor with the crowd. On the second day he was particularly humorous, stopping often to interject an amusing story. Suddenly, he would say, "That's reminds me of another story." He would hold us captive with the narrative and then his infectious laugh would spread throughout the crowd. It was refreshing.

From the beginning, the Dalai Lama stated that one does not have to be a Buddhist to partake in any of his teachings. He clearly explained that Christians or any other religious adherents were welcome. His teachings are all-inclusive regardless of a person’s religion or lack thereof. Learning to live a more satisfactory life was the intended goal.

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama epitomizes religious tolerance, love, compassion and peace. He explained that every religion is the proper one for the individual adhering to it. Different religions fit in different cultures and one should never be attached to one's own views on religion nor hostile toward others views. He teaches that we must remain objective.

He concluded this topic by stressing that in today's world, we must respect different religious traditions, practice forgiveness, tolerance, modesty, and tirelessly strive to promote religious harmony.

In reference to Buddhism, the Dalai Lama shared a flexible attitude that was very inspirational. He explained how he always examined every sutra (scripture) and/or Buddhist text with critical inquiry and that everyone should do so. He noted that people should not have a conviction until one has had a personal experience. In other words, make the concept your own by experiencing it then you know it is true. If your heart interprets a sutra or belief differently than the accepted way or even contradictory to the Dalai Lama, go with your heart. Don’t use a sutra to prove another sutra; instead, use your own reasoning and personal experience. And relate to your faith as someone practicing it in the twenty-first century, not the past.

I revere His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama for many reasons especially the fact that he does not take any money for his teachings. He teaches all over the world and instructs for several weeks consecutively in India. He believes that all spiritual teachings should be free. The Tibet House U.S., that sponsored the event, had to meticulously budget so only to cover expenses. No one involved was allowed to obtain a financial gain from his teachings.

On that vein, the Dalai Lama spoke about how to choose a spiritual teacher and how a teacher should choose his students. He said to watch out for people who use spiritual teachings to make money and that the dharma (teaching) centers’ motivations should be to serve the local community, not to make money or create a community where the teacher and his or her family can make a living.

Teachers should have only a few students so to have the time to help them individually and should never take money from students. His Holiness said that before taking a student, the teacher should know that the student’s intentions and motivations are sincere. Also, a student should select a teacher carefully and not be taught by many teachers.

This brings me to the Dalai Lama’s comments on enlightenment or Buddhahood or a Buddha to use Buddhist terms. This earthly experience allows one to transform the mind to become a Buddha (enlightened). We all possess the potential for Buddhahood, but we must realize the pollutants of the mind first and transform them. (Later in this article, I will cover the pollutants discussed in The Blade Wheel of Mind Transformation.)

His Holiness continues by stating that the attainment of enlightenment is a result only of long practice and commitment. One cannot gain enlightenment in three years. It requires a huge commitment and hardship and takes long years of dedication and practice. Hardships are needed but not foolish hardships. Sometimes one needs to take a rest and sometimes one needs to work harder. A balance must be reached. It is human to want immediate results.

Buddhists wants Buddhahood very fast. There is no swift way. Wanting immediate Buddhahood gets in the way and the seeker will never make the required long-term commitment by being in a hurry.  Furthermore, one may never be able to emulate all the qualities of a master, but should be able to possess a few.

But, I believe the Dalai Lama’s most important statements on enlightenment was that Enlightenment, Buddhahood or Refuge is NOT somewhere else but rather a state of mind and that "within our reflections lies wisdom."

Again, I would like to add a few points here. Many feel that a spiritually evolved person or an initiation or other ceremony can transfer enlightenment immediately to them. This is false. A master or Buddha can explain profound concepts, but if the mind is not prepared, one cannot understand the subject, much less become enlightened. As His Holiness explains, enlightenment requires much effort and time.

Before the Green Tara Initiation, which is a permission blessing to awaken the mind, the Dalai Lama noted that the mind will not become enlightened from the Green Tara Initiation but rather a process may begin. He stressed the Initiation would be only the beginning of a long, hard journey to fully awaken the mind.

Please keep all this in mind and don't throw away your money to others in order to become enlightened for there is no immediate enlightenment. It is a process and mind reform is part of the process.

His Holiness is compassion embodied and offers great wisdom in this area. His understanding concerning compassion is as follows: To begin, the first kind of compassion is to wish and aspire to be free of suffering. The second kind of compassion is to want others to be free from suffering. Equalizing and exchanging self with others is the advance form of practicing compassion. Third, a great person is one with an altruistic attitude not a wealthy person, or an educated person or so on. An altruistic person cherishes other human beings, has empathy for all sentient beings, and experiences a sense of connectedness and concern about the welfare of others. These qualities make one great not his money, education, etc. Finally, level the ground toward other sentient beings, have no indifferences, see others as being dear to you and contemplate their kindness and have loving kindness toward others and desire for them to enjoy happiness.

Continuing, he shared his compassionate views regarding animals and other living creatures. His Holiness said that we must rescue animals, insects, etc. and help them. Lack of compassion for them is self-centeredness. “Lower” animals don't know right from wrong. They do things that we perceive as negative due to ignorance or instinct. We know right from wrong and choose to do negative things anyway. So, in some ways, we are lower than animals, insects, etc. Finally, Lack of compassion for other living things (animals, insects, etc.) is self-centeredness.

It is appropriate at this time to share the following quote from His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech, “…As a Buddhist monk, my concern extends to all members of the human family and, indeed, to all sentient beings who suffer. I believe all suffering is caused by ignorance. People inflict pain on others in the selfish pursuit of their happiness or satisfaction. Yet true happiness comes from a sense of brotherhood and sisterhood. We need to cultivate a universal responsibility for one another and the planet we share. Although I have found my own Buddhist religion helpful in generating love and compassion, even for those we consider our enemies, I am convinced that everyone can develop a good heart and a sense of universal responsibility with or without religion.”

Now, we will look at the simple yet life-altering teachings of the Blade Wheel of Mind Transformation. I will cover only the basics and will briefly sum up the important points about our afflictions and what to do about them.

The text covers some profound Buddhist concepts. I will not delve into those teachings at this time. The Dalai Lama focused mainly on the simple aspects of the text for various reasons.

The Blade Wheel states that we must first realize that there is suffering in our lives, and then we must find the cause of the suffering and finally bring about a cessation of that suffering.

Most of our suffering is caused by the “enemy within.” It is our negative thoughts which produce action. One must attack the enemy within fiercely as if using a weapon, like a sharp blade. This enemy produces desire, self-cherishing (ego), self-centeredness, attachment, jealous, envy, coveting etc. These are our afflictions. These afflictions are our true enemy along with its cause, our mind and its negative thoughts and subsequent actions.

Spiritual failure can be attributed to ignoring the consequences of one's past and present actions.  In other words, aimlessly doing whatever one desires without stopping to think of the consequences of the actions.

One must seek to become happy while respecting others. (Do unto others as you would have them do to you.) If one has no regard for others, there will always be conflict present. Seeking power for one’s self can create evil karma. Cultivate and practice regard for others. Plus, while constantly working on afflictions, one must also work at the right livelihood, a fair and honest profession that does not cause any harm.

An individual should reflect upon the self-cherishing (me, me) attitude, which is also referred to as cowardice. Reflect upon this attitude to figure out what caused it and determine how to destroy it. Place the blame of discontentment onto one source, the self-cherishing ego, quit blaming others, and contemplate others' greatness.

Next, set out to transform this self-cherishing into a positive quality such as compassion. The individual must achieve compassion. In order to develop compassion, the Buddhist teaching is to mentally take on the suffering of others through meditation or contemplation. This is the heart of the practice of mind transformation. One should be compassionate and remember to put one’s self in another's shoes, so to speak.

It should be noted here that an individual must self-cherish enough to care for oneself. One must care for one’s self before he or she can care for another. The awakened mind understands the need to care for oneself. It is when the self-centeredness becomes extreme that it is a problem.

If religious, do not put on airs of commitment, pretence, endurance, etc. To be a spiritual person, meditations, shrines or other outward showings are unnecessary. Practice of the spiritual teachings on a mental level is more important than performing the rituals, recitations, prostrations, etc. The mental level can be defined as meditation, study, contemplation, etc. When one is doing the bodily practices, he or she can still gossip, verbally abuse and covet. Therefore, the mental brings about the real change and is most important.

The Dalai Lama strongly stressed the importance of honesty as being a very important quality in all of us. If we are not honest with ourselves, we can never be honest with others. He also emphasized the importance of being humble no matter what position in life for no one is above another.

To summarize, the "enemy within" is our biggest threat. An external enemy is temporary and harm is confined to the outer. The external enemy cannot directly destroy our happiness, but the “enemy within” has the ability. One must realize the majority of his or her unhappiness is due to cause and effect (karma) that has been created.

It all starts with one’s thoughts and a chain reaction follows. In other words, negative thoughts produce afflictions, actions and habits, which destroy happiness and health as well as attract certain negative experiences. However, thoughts can also create happiness and good health while attracting positive circumstance into one’s life.

Afflictions are likened to a poison. They must be destroyed. Don’t take afflictions lightly. Challenge them when they arise. In other words, if you find yourself thinking negatively, being egoistical or feeling jealous, seeking power or vengeance, etc., attack these thoughts immediately. Replace the negative thoughts with positive ones. One can become attached, both mentally and physically, to negative emotions.

If you are attached to the experience of anger and outburst even at small things, root it out. There are times however, when anger can be used as a catalyst for good actions. If you find yourself associating with negative or troublesome people, get away from them. Often while complaining about our problems we still stay in the same conditions for we become addicted to these conditions and negative emotions. (I will write an article in the future covering the mind/body connection creating this addiction.) Take control of life. Attack the afflictions and produce change. By transforming the basis (inner), we transform the outer.

On the final day of this wondrous event, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama performed the Green Tara Initiation for the monks and his audience. I was so "in the moment" that it is difficult for me to recall in detail the Green Tara Initiation. It was an emotional moment in time and a colorful and dramatic ritual complete with prayers, mantras, offerings, recitations and incense. It was a beautiful and moving experience that now seems almost like a dream.

I hope you have enjoyed this overview of my time with the Dalai Lama. The experience has made me a better person. It is my wish that it produces a similar affect on you. Let us act as a sponge and absorb some of his infinite wisdom and let it transform us into better, more compassionate human beings. His Holiness said, "...the key to a happier and more successful world is the growth of compassion. We do not need to become religious, nor do we need to believe in an ideology. All that is necessary is for each of us to develop our good human qualities."

When His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama is gone, the world will have lost its beacon of light and peace.