Dalia Lama's Role In Engaged Buddhism

Engaged Buddhism is a movement within the Buddhist religion that seeks to have an activist role in the world through Buddhist teachings. During the Vietnam War in the mid 1960’s, many Vietnamese Buddhist monks and nuns worked to give relief to citizens through nonviolence. Kenneth Kraft writes, “on that day and on many others, Vietnamese Buddhists parted the red sea of blood that was flooding their land. They displayed the equanimity, the courage, and the selflessness of true peacemakers.” Engaged Buddhism reflects the active involvement by Buddhists to project their ideals of wisdom and compassion to those that are in conflict or strife. Engaged Buddhism has not always been perceived as peaceful however. Because Buddhism is often perceived as passive, Engaged Buddhist have been concerned contradictions to the peaceful religion.

Therefore, there is a responsibility among all societies to work towards peace and prosperity. The Dalia Lama promotes nonviolence because of the belief that personal peace connects to world peace and that there can be no harmony when there is any angry or violence in the world. People must be able to recognize their contributions to destruction and oppression and become empowered to change public discourse. The Dalia Lama states that, “because the world is interdependent, one’s behavior as a participant in society is inseparable from their individual behavior.” Engaged Buddhists often follow Thich Nhat Hanh’s fourteen percepts of the Order of Interbeing that reflect a spirit of tolerance and humility. Also following the belief of Hanh’s precepts, in the 1960’s the Dhammic Socialist movement became prominent in