UBUNTU, how can one of us be happy if all the other ones are sad?

Ubuntu

An anthropologist proposed a game to the kids in an African tribe. He put a basket full of fruit near a tree and told the kids that who ever got there first won the sweet fruits. When he told them to run they all took each others hands and ran together, then sat together enjoying their treats. When he asked them why they had run like that as one could have had all the fruits for himself they said:
”UBUNTU, how can one of us be happy if all the other ones are sad?”

 ‘UBUNTU’ in the Xhosa culture means: “I am because we are”

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An Audience with HH the Dalai Lama

dalai lama 2His Holiness The Dalai Lama –
The Embodiment of Compassion

Listening to the Dalai Lama sharing His experiences and thoughts, one of the aspects which most impressed me was the amount of laughter – both from himself and from His audience. There is warm heartedness, humility and a lightness of spirit which is very apparent in His way of speaking, and His words are aimed directly at the hearts of His listeners. His message of compassion and loving kindness is based on common sense and practical living, and he is clear in asserting His belief that:

“The purpose of life is for happiness, to survive happily”

One of His central teachings about the development of compassion is based on the importance of childhood influences, particularly the effects of parenting. He reflects on His own childhood, and says he believes that mothers are the starting point of loving kindness. He describes His own mother’s simplicity, an uneducated village woman from a farming background, and immensely warm hearted. Contrasting her love and gentleness with the more disciplinarian approach of His father, he concludes that had he spent more time in His early years with His father he would probably not have been the same person.

“I believe that my altruistic mind and my compassion – the very seeds of that mind I got from my birth and the next few months and years with my mother – that was the real starting point to raise my model of loving kindness.”

He goes on to say to parents:

“What I say is this – give maximum affection to your children. That is very essential to bring us a happier humanity. The main hope for humanity relies on our future generations. So families with children have a special role – to give maximum affection to your children.
And parents – particularly mothers – spend more time with your children

© Christine Miller All Rights Reserved