Dov Michaeli
Posted 5/12/13 on The Doctor Weighs In
For Joel Klepper, who can do it all
My friend’s son, Joel Klepper, a student at the University of Oregon, sent his father a summary of a talk by the Dalai Lama at the university. I am not going to quote the whole report, brilliant as it is. But a few choice paragraphs illuminate the thought-provoking talk of this awe-inspiring religious leader. Here is the Dalai Lama on religion and compassion:
“He started by pointing out that all of the world’s major religions have compassion and love as their defining message, and pointed to the many people that all of the major religious traditions have produced who have used it as inspiration to devote their lives to compassion and the good of humanity. He was careful to differentiate between religion and religious institutions, saying it was the latter that was susceptible to corruption, and therefore it is the institutions that drive people away, but that generally that people don’t tend to have a problem with most core tenets, but that also as human understanding advances, it is critical that religion adapt itself, and not become mired in tradition or dogma when they clash with reality. Throughout, he was big on practicality and realism”.
The most surprising to me was the broad-mindedness of the leader of Tibetan Buddhism:
The Dalai Lama was amazing and everything I could have hoped for: warm, intelligent, modest and thoughtful. And funny. The venue was a sold out auditorium of 11,000. He began at 9:30 am in a panel discussion with two prominent environmental activists and 
Care And Cost 