在一个寒冷的一月早晨, Buddhist monk 喇嘛丹增 Yignyen returned to Poly with an enlightening message of 同情 and loving kindness. It is not the accumulation of money that brings happiness, he told 中学 students gathered in the library on Monday, 而是把自己奉献给别人, 发展心灵和思想.

喇嘛丹增 has visited the 较低的学校 and the Dyker Heights campus for many years. For the first time since January 2020 and the beginning of the pandemic, 喇嘛丹增 returned for a week to create a sand mandala of 同情 on a table in the library, where socially distanced students came to observe his work. He explained the meaning of the symbols he used for earth, 空气, 火, and water and the lotus in the center of the spiritual artwork.

每天都以冥想开始和结束. 在白天, 上学校 and 中学 classes took turns coming into the library with their teachers and sitting in a wide circle. A line of Tibetan prayer flags stretched above them. 喇嘛丹增 stood at one end of the circle in front of an altar with images of Buddha, 一碗水果, 和蜡烛. He told the students that they should develop their hearts even more importantly than developing their brains.  He emphasized that they should give up anger, jealousy, and greed.

喇嘛丹增, who was ordained a monk by the Dalai Lama in 1969, has constructed and taught about mandalas at high schools and colleges across the United States. 在曼陀罗的中心, he begins with a lotus design and works out from there in concentric circles using 17 colored sands to fill in the outlined pattern. 周三, students watched as 喇嘛丹增 tapped steadily on a chakpur, 装满黄沙的金属漏斗, 在设计中添加一条线.

喇嘛丹增讯息的意义

“喇嘛丹增 spoke about a number of things that I personally really needed to hear,” said 汉娜·史密斯22岁. “例如, he encouraged us to enjoy being who we are and be happy with ourselves, 因为我们不能成为别人. He reminded us to take life one day at a time, and that personal growth and improvement should be a gradual process that cannot be rushed. 最重要的是, he reminded us about the things that truly matter in life: kindness, 同情, 和爱. 他的话真的引起了我的共鸣，因为, since life can be so chaotic and stressful at times, I had somewhat forgotten what life was really all about, and it was wonderful to take a step back and remember.”

“He reminded us to take life one day at a time…”

史密斯的英语老师， 约翰Rearick他做了一个有趣的观察. “I found that there was a wonderful connection between what we have been studying in 李尔王 and what 喇嘛丹增 was saying about the importance of 同情,” said Rearick. “莎士比亚可能是个佛教徒!”

史密斯解释说, “喇嘛丹增 spoke about attachment 和爱, and specifically the difference between the two. He said that real love is unselfish and unconditional, and if one sees love as transactional–meaning, if one only expresses love 因为 they expect something in return–then it is not real genuine love. I thought this was really relevant to the character of 李尔王, 因为, 尤其是在戏剧的开头, he views love as completely transactional: he agrees to give his daughters land as long as they profess their love to him in return. Needless to say I think 喇嘛丹增 would disapprove of 李尔王’s interpretation of love.”

喇嘛丹增 invited questions from visiting students. One student asked, “How do you deal with stress?” 喇嘛丹增 said that you should never get to the point of being stressed, but there are preventative measures that can be taken. He explained that through meditation we can get to know ourselves honestly and know what is true. Another student asked about the meaning of the mandala and 喇嘛丹增 explained that the mandala is an ancient art form that is part of Tibetan culture. 他把曼陀罗比作西方艺术, 解释说,, unlike a painting valued at millions of dollars that may hang in a museum, 曼荼罗有精神上的含义, 在周末的时候, 这件艺术品将被拆除. 在周五, 在仪式上, 喇嘛丹增 talked about the impermanence of our lives and then had the students brush the colored sand into a pile on the table. He collected the sand in a pitcher and walked with the students to the pond where he emptied the sand into the frozen water.

之后, 塔卢拉·格兰西25岁 said, “I found 喇嘛丹增’s message very calming and inspirational. He told us that 因为 we have all of these computers in today’s world, 我们走捷径, but we need to choose the hard path 因为 that’s where we learn the most and where we find the most happiness. 他告诉我们必须拥抱幸福. If somebody were to insult you, you just need to say thank you, embrace it, and let it go. I found this really inspiring 因为 it made me realize how much we take for granted and how we are always trying to get happiness by doing things, but sometimes we just need to embrace what’s around us. His way of letting go was by building his mandala, which represented happiness, and then breaking it. He cared about it, but he knew that memories were within him.”