Ven. Gendun: Buddhism & the practice of freedom

At a recent talk, Ven. Losang Gendun was telling the story of a Buddhist monk who had been put in jail and tortured. The point of the story was how he responded to the situation. I asked him to expand on that. The following is what he said (see audio at the bottom of the page). The monk I spoke of is called Ven. Palden Gyatso (1933- 2018) and was a Gelugpa monk born in Tibet. After the Chinese invasion, he was arrested in 1959 and spent more than three decades in prison and labor camps, where he was severely tortured.  Fleeing out of Tibet after his release, he stated that he had been “in danger of losing compassion for my torturers.” This statement struck many listeners — including the Dalai Lama — because his greatest fear was not the physical torture, but that he might lose his compassion. I retold the story to highlight that our perception is a construct of our mind (even our idea of the mind itself is). Of the two types of suffering, physical and mental, the latter is by far the worst. Deep meditation can temporarily block the former, but the latter is by far a bigger challenge. Mental suffering finds its cause in the mind itself, which is why the most important aspect of Buddhist training is to retrain the mind and stop mental suffering.  Our unwholesome emotions are unskillful in the sense that they hinder our cognitive function, and don’t allow us to evaluate the unsound ontological basis on which these emotions stand. Moreover, they cause deep suffering, discontent and disempowerment within ourselves.  So, Buddhists train in wholesome states, at least because they protect the mind and provide our agency with the freedom to deliberate and choose a course of action most suitable for our circumstances.  Ven. Palden Gyatso was an advanced practitioner. He in fact didn’t protect his self, he protected his compassion, and only as a by-product was protected himself. Buddhists aim to perceive the world from a vast perspective, in which the practice of compassion produces Buddhahood in the long run, for the welfare of all sentient beings. As the great 8th century Indian Master Shantideva formulates it:For as long as space remainsFor as long as sentient beings remain,May I too remainTo Dispel the suffering of the world. Venerable Losang Gendun is the founder of The Buddha Project, which he sees as a journey of overcoming cultural biases and experiencing the Dharma beyond intellectual understanding. He has a strong commitment to living and promoting the ‘examined life’, in which the false security of dogmas is replaced by a fearless heart and inquisitive mind. For the past 15 years, he has been teaching Buddhist philosophy, psychology, and meditation in Europe and the USA. His spiritual journey started with a Trappist monk in the early 1970s, exemplifying the fruits of a life dedicated to simplicity, contemplation, and care for others. Meeting with the abbot of a Dutch Theravada monastery a decade later gave his path a new direction. He then studied under some of the most respected Buddhist teachers, including H.H. the Dalai Lama, Ganden Tripa Lobsang Tenzin Rinpoche, Geshe Losang Jamphal, and Lama Zopa Rinpoche.  See The Buddha Project.