Inner Peace and Human Rights (1989)

One of the main themes that circulated throughout this essay was the balance between material development and spiritual development. Tenzin Gyatso describes how different societies contain different combinations of the two lifestyles. For example, he uses the Tibetan culture as a poster child for spiritual development, with their dense populous of temples and happy, jovial people. The flip side of that coin could be seen with countries such as our own. In our culture, most people believe that happiness is in direct correlation with a materialistic lifestyle. Another thing he stresses is inner peace, "without this inner peace, no matter how comfortable your life is materially, you may still be worried, disturbed or unhappy because of circumstances." (600) He is trying to get across that a healthy society can be found in one that shares a happy medium between these two ways of thinking.

One thing I learned from this essay is that everyone has a part in revolution. The Dali Lama states that it must start with the people's want to make a change. Then it should pass to the leaders, not necessarily government.

“Peace, for example, starts with each one of us. When we have inner peace, we can be at peace with those around us. When our community is in a state of peace, it can share that peace with neighboring communities, and so on.” (600)

Another eye opener was how fortunate I really am. I look at my own life and see the stress and conflicts I am faced with and it doesn’t even come close to others. Will I am deciding how to get in shape and lose some weight others are trying to find out how to put grains of rice on the table. While I am worried about Christmas shopping, Tibetans are fighting to keep their culture and populous alive. It is troublesome and is something that I need to work on.

The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, won the Nobel peace prize because he didn’t give up. He was relentless in finding a way for his people’s way of life not to become extinct. “[The awarding of the Nobel Prize] fills us Tibetans with hope. It means, despite the fact that we have not drawn attention to our plight by means of violence, we have not been forgotten.” (601) Tenzin Gyatso supports the basic human rights for his people and fought for those he can’t be heard. One thing that should be noted that made him truly extraordinary is that his five point plan for peace involves a peaceful relationship with the Chinese. This is key because they are the ones currently occupying Tibet.