Archive Result

20030825GRRU

RU-8-25-03

Ethics in the Modern World

Tonight is the last, unscheduled talk. The title is Ethics in the Modern World.

Ethics is a big issue. Everybody is very concerned and rightly so. On the other hand there are many misunderstandings. The interpretation of ethics is a big problem. One definition would be to be true to one’s commitment. Some people think that ethics is not important. But it is. No one wants to be unethical. Nowadays, when we talk about ethics we tend to look immediately into people’s sexual orientation. This happened during the Clinton Administration. Every day we heard about Bill and Monica and that was considered to be an ethical issue. I am not saying that it was not an issue of ethics, but not one that we have to spend that much time and energy on. That was just unnecessary drama.

On the other hand there are a lot of ethical issues that we ignore. We are not looking carefully enough at these. For example, we have the genome project now. It is good from one point of view. Scientists can tell you exactly now what each gene does and which physical characteristics are caused by which gene. That can be very helpful. So that in itself is not a wrong thing. But there are a lot of ethical issues at stake as well. We are almost at that time where we can produce a human being in the laboratory. We can create a perfect race of humans. They could be 6 foot tall and if you don’t want them to be totally Caucasian, you can put African-American genes in too. I can’t help thinking of Tiger Woods. He looks great. He has some Asian blood in there too. Such a newly created human may not have to be susceptible to any diseases. Even to that point there is nothing wrong with producing one person. You can display him in a museum, people could pay him for looking at him, provided that he stays there. But if you produce a lot of them, you will end up with two races, a perfect race and an imperfect one, such as ourselves. Today’s science fiction movies are tomorrow’s reality. I have been saying for some years that we may get two kinds of human race in future. The perfect ones will live above the ground and have a nice society and the imperfect ones will remain under the ground. If that happens it is a huge ethical issue. We should prepare and discuss ethics on that level rather than being obsessed with President Clinton’s conduct he had with Monica.

It is not the case that scientist have no awareness of the ethical implication of their research. I know a few and they always want to know what is ethically right and wrong. I always think that the scientists who are standing in the labs today in their white coats are actually making decisions about the future of the human race 25 years on. Minute by minute in their daily work they are making these far-reaching decisions. They want to know about the ethical dimension of their work. It is our duty to tell them what our fears are and what could go wrong. Having two human races is not going to be great, especially for the imperfect ones. That is just one example. There are a lot of other ethical issues of that nature. If we consider ourselves to be spiritually minded people we really have to be concerned. If we are not, then who else will be? We don’t want ethical decisions of that nature being made by the government who will tell us what we can and what we cannot do. They are neither the experts nor the right authority for ethics. It is for everybody to decide what is ethical and what isn’t.

When everybody made such a big deal out of that Clinton-Lewinsky, I was thinking by myself, ‘We have elected this guy to be the president of the United States, not the pope of America.’ I couldn’t say it at the time, because it would have been so politically incorrect, but that is the reality. Ethics is an individual issue. Everybody has their own ethical issues and we have to correct our own issues first. It is very easy to look at what other people are doing and criticizing them.

There is a story from Buddha’s time. Actually he told the story that happened during the time of the Buddha who came before Shakyamuni Buddha’s predecessor. (2 Buddhas ago). At that time this Buddha’s benefactor, a king, had a series of strange dreams, 18 or 20 of them. He asked this Buddha, ‘Do these dreams have something to do with my kingdom or with you?’ This Buddha said, ‘No, it has nothing to do with you. In 2 eons’ time there will be another Buddha called Shakyamuni. What came up in your dreams will happen then.’ In one of these dreams the king saw a group of monkeys fighting with each other around a big pit of compost. One monkey got his tail caught in the manure and another monkey completely fell into it. He got out, covered totally with manure. While they were continuing to fight, he forgot about that very soon and when he saw the other monkey he pointed the finger at him and shouted, ‘Look at that monkey. He has got shit on his tail!’

So when I followed the Lewinsky scandal I remembered this story and had to laugh. It looked to me that what 2 eons ago that king dreamt about our time was coming true. This means what is morally right or wrong is your own concern and you have to correct your issues yourself. It is not for anyone else to judge.

On what basis can you judge your own ethics? According to Buddha it is really whether you can keep your own commitments intact. We love to attack others on moral issues and often it turns out that the people on the attack are themselves the most suspicious people.

My good friend, the late Allen Ginsberg used to tell me stories about Edgar Hoover, who was director of the CIA, was gay and he didn’t want people to know but he himself always pointed out other people as gay. That is really unethical. One has to judge oneself, not others. Basically, keep your commitments intact, whatever they are. Otherwise it is very hard to objectively say that one thing is right and another is wrong. Even Buddha advised not to judge other people, unless you are totally enlightened. You don’t know people’s reasons and values. So, when you judge others you can easily be wrong. Dharma should be used a mirror to see the reflection of your deeds. And when you see something wrong, you should correct it. That is Dharma. It is your own business, nobody else’s, unless of course, you ask for other people’s comments or views. The meaning of Dharma, in Tibetan cho, actually means correction. We are correcting our addictions to anger, hatred, obsession and so on. These are the immoral things. Hatred, obsession and jealousy are definitely immoral. They not only create trouble for ourselves, but also for others. To create a lot of suffering for others to me is morally incorrect. We already have enough suffering, we don’t need any additional problem. As duty for the people we should spread love and compassion and caring for people. Try to bring joy and happiness. If you bring suffering that is morally wrong. The reason why killing is morally wrong is because it hurts people. Likewise obsession is morally wrong. You have no right to create suffering for others. But we do that. These are moral issues.

Others issues are for example the development of atomic power. If you use that power for the purpose of development and well being, how wonderful the atomic power can be. But we have made bombs. That is ethically not right. Such a great mind as the human mind is capable of securing the joy and well being of people. But if instead of saving lives we use that capacity to cause the loss of lives it is immoral. No one talks about it, though. Individually, our motivation and our action are very important to watch. We always have to think, ‘If I do this, what will be the consequences?’ You can’t think, ‘I will be okay and whatever happens to you, I don’t care.’ Especially teachers and most of all, spiritual teachers have a great responsibility. They are role models and have the obligations to watch their actions. People are admiring and following them. It is a heavy burden and a moral issue. Even parents have that moral obligation towards their children. If you are going to teach your own twisted behavior to your children you are doing them a disservice. You have to show them what you think is morally correct. You don’t have to judge but show it to them. Then they can judge.

There are some teachers who show the so-called ‘Crazy Wisdom’ behavior. That is usually not applicable to anyone. Tibet has been haunted with this question for centuries , especially with issues concerning the difference between Varjrayana and Sutrayana and now it has come to America. Now you can look at the Catholic church and their scandals. But it is happening in any other tradition as well. Everybody has that problem, including Tibetan Buddhism. The point is not to find more faults with more people but to recognize that we are also involved.

Last week I talked to Gene Smith about that very subject. He suggested to hold a conference on these moral issues. He said at such a conference we couldn’t hope to come to major decisions but we could raise all the issues and give information and people could arrive at a decision for themselves. He has a point and we should do that. But most importantly, we have to know our own personal issues. Don’t let anybody else judge you, but check yourself. Ask yourself, ‘Am I breaking my commitments or vows?’ Buddhists for example have refuge vows, bodhisattva vows and vajrayana vows. If you hold the bodhisattva vows but follow a conduct of narrow, selfish interest, that breaks the bodhisattva vows. We have to look at these as moral issues. A lot of people have marriage vows. These are also vows that should be kept. Nobody forces you to take these vows. They are entered voluntarily and when you break them you are breaking something you have promised. That to me is personal morality. The television morality on the other hand is mostly entertainment. Morality also has to be seen in context of the time. There is a difference in moral issues of the 20th century and the 21st century. From the time of using atomic power to make bombs onwards we have been overlooking a lot of important moral issues. Yet we are almost obsessed with a few minor issues. In our daily lives we have to look at our own actions and ask if this action is morally correct or not. That awareness should be with us at all times. It is not right to have that awareness only when it comes to other people’s behavior and not one’s own. With best knowledge and best intention we should look at ourselves and that is how we can improve ourselves.

Audience: When you make a judgment for yourself, aren’t you implicitly saying that a certain conduct is wrong that when I see others doing it I am judging them automatically too, because I have already decided that this kind of conduct is wrong?

Rimpoche: There are certain things that are obviously wrong. For example there will be no one who would not agree that Jim Jones’s actions were wrong. You cannot be responsible for so many people losing their lives. There is nothing wrong with making a judgment on that. Similarly, Heaven’s Gate and cases like that. You would have to say that it is wrong. On the other hand, in the case of Waco and David Koresh and his followers who all died there, I am reserving my judgment who is right and who is wrong.

Jim Jones definitely has misled a great number of people and they lost their lives.

Michael Roach is a different situation. The only thing with him I am objecting to is that he says, ‘I slept with somebody but I am still celibate.’ That particular thing is wrong. Whether the person is enlightened or not I cannot judge. That is a different issue. But to say ‘I slept with somebody but that it wasn’t sex’, that part is difficult for me. This is a big issue for a lot of people. Michael Roach is not the first one. In very religion, at every time, that is an issue with this. In the Catholic church the issues that are going on, that is also wrong. But that is not the church’s fault, but the individual’s.

However, the safest course is to watch my own actions. That is the safest. If everybody does that and thinks that way we won’t be in this mess.

Audience: Don’t you have a judgment on the Chinese who came to Tibet and killed so many and destroyed everything and leave no freedom?

Rimpoche: Well, of course, if you witness people killing and plundering and manipulating and forcing, if you say that this is all right, I would call that naïve.

Audience: Was not there anything you could do apart from running away?

Rimpoche: Running away was probably the right choice. You get away without getting killed, that’s good. But there were many people left behind who did get killed.

Audience: But for example, in World War 2, the Americans came to help the allies to fight Hitler.

Rimpoche: That situation was different from Tibet. The Tibetan situation was that you could run away from Tibet into India. World War 2 was different, because you couldn’t run away. That war came everywhere. People made a moral judgment that anti-Semitism was wrong and had to be fought. That is fine. But even today we haven’t got rid of dictators and people like that. We got rid of one guy, but now there are so many others. Continuously, one dictator after another turns up and now we have terrorists. Now we are saying that we have to kill the terrorists. Somehow we have to understand that this will never change through more violent actions. How can you change human beings’ thoughts and minds through acting violently towards them? You will only change their minds if you bring love, kindness and caring to them. The thoughts of human beings change internally, not by external force.

External force seems to solve some issues, but actually, it doesn’t stop violence. We went into Afghanistan and had a war there, but a year later the violence still continues. And then we went into Iraq, without international approval. Now there is continuous violence. Honestly, through violence you can only force people for a while to do what you want, but their mind is not going to change. Think how difficult it is to change our own minds for our own good. It takes time. Truly violence is not the answer. These are for me very valid, convincing reasons. Through violence you can temporarily force people to do something, and in the process there is no much destruction, which people don’t forget. Even their children will remember. You can never erase a whole race out of the human registration.

Audience: I was in a situation last week where I had to make a decision about something and neither option left me the choice to do the ethically right thing. What could one do in such a case?

Rimpoche: I wish I knew. We face that a lot. I always try to balance it out to do the best I could. Sometimes you are forced to make a decision and you can only do the best to be true to yourself. Even those people who are creating a war, probably think they are doing the best for themselves and for their country. I don’t think they are hoping to have a war with a lot of destruction for the sake of it. However, by going to war they are making a wrong decision. You can only try to be true to yourself, to your duties and do the best you can. It is our human limitations. If we were clairvoyant and know the future, perhaps we could make better decisions. But we are not in that position. Right and wrong are very difficult to discern. What is right for the Tibetans seems to be wrong for the Chinese communists. What is right for them is wrong for the Tibetans. So how are you going to judge? You can only try to do your best. Most importantly, make sure you don’t hurt anyone, especially not innocent people. If you are forced to hurt people, try to limit it to the minimum.

Audience: Science and religion seem to have a different outlook on how to proceed. Science says: Is it possible to do it? Then let’s do it. Religion says: Is it helpful and wholesome? Then let’s do it. How can they get on the same page?

Rimpoche: Maybe they can. I was attending a conference organized by America Online. There were a number of scientist there, and among them the head of IBM who reported on work being done on artificial intelligence. The theme of the conference was whether there will be artificial intelligence in future. One guy there had a little credit card size device and he told us that this is going to be the future. This device will be able to talk to you, do your e mailing, phone, credit card, all in one little gadget. But the guy next to me, the head of IBM, Professor Ray Kurzweil, whispered to me. ‘That’s nothing. He doesn’t know what he is talking about. We are going to have total computers in your eye glasses by next year.’

Then, when we discussed the possibility of artificial intelligence and my answer was that yes, it was possible. I said ‘When the conditions are right, things will materialize’. Prof Kurzweil was thinking on the lines of capturing consciousness somehow and put it to work in the computer artificially. My point was that when the conditions were provided consciousness itself would enter. I was joking with him that he could be reincarnated as a computer.

Towards the end of the conference most of the scientists there said that what I had said was representing the statements of ancient wisdom. They said that for centuries scientists in the west had made the conscious decision to stay away from the views of the ancient traditions and just follow the facts. But following the facts actually by now has led scientists on a 180 degree turn and now, while still following the facts, they recognize that they are following the religious traditions after all. So it is an exciting time where science and religion some to the same conclusions. Truth is truth. It will prevail, from scientific findings and religious teachings. It will come together. And you can’t deny that many scientists recognize ethical and emotional implications and incorporate that into their thinking, just like religious traditions are able to work with scientific facts. It will come together.

Audience: If you don’t judge, doesn’t that mean you are not trying to improve things, also for others? If you let things go, nothing will change for the better. Judging has a negative connotation and then no matter who makes a judgment, that is a negative thing then. Do enlightened beings make any judgments?

Rimpoche: You are right. When you see someone doing something wrong, that is not the time to say, ‘I am not here to judge’. It is the time to intervene and stop this. When I talked about being judgmental I meant it in the sense of passing judgment on other people without valid reasons.

One more thing about science and religion. Science is trying to establish the truth, the best ever possible. Religion is trying to work out what is best for the people. Ultimately, they have to come to the same points. They have to. They have been going apart for too long. Some difficult religious points can now be better explained. Buddhist tradition will tell you that space is such a thing that you fill a great number of universes into a small space. At first it seems crazy. But now look at the computer. How much information and pictures and sounds can you save onto an extremely small space? The famous Buddhist theory of emptiness is much easier to understand if you take into account Einstein’s theory of relativity. So we live an exciting time like never before. The things that Buddha, Jesus and others have been telling us so long ago and which are beyond our comprehension are not being explained to us by scientists. You see books now that are called ‘The mind of God.’

This was the last section of this series of teachings for a while. But we will continue in October. Lets dedicate our efforts of the previous weeks to the benefit of all beings and particularly to the benefit of so many people who are getting killed and suffering so much in the world, Afghanistan, Iraq, Africa and everywhere. How many wars are raging today in the world? The natural sufferings at least are unavoidable. But the man-made sufferings have no justification for whatsoever. It is just somebody’s ego and power hunger. Who is a rebel and who is the government, who is right and who is wrong? Everybody is trying to grab power and men, women and children have to suffer tremendously. So let us dedicate our positive deeds for the benefits of all those who are suffering. Whatever their needs are, may it be materialize. Try to do that every day if you can.

End of talk.