17th Karmapa Lama holds dialogue on Lord Buddha's teachings - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Ogyen Trinley Dorje, the 17th Karmapa Lama delivered a discourse on the teachings of Lord Buddha here on Friday. Dorje is the highest Tibetan lama, whose authority is recognized by both Beijing and the Dalai Lama. Over hundreds of devotees and Buddhist monks flocked in the city to take sermons on Buddhist philosophy. The 17th Karmapa Lama explained the difference between renunciation and compassion; saying that the only difference that between the two was the focus. Lama said, "The motivation for the path of renunciation and compassion really differs only by one being inwardly focused and the other being outwardly focused. Both are fundamentally the same." "Both wish to free the beings from their sufferings and their causes. When this wish is applied to others, it is called compassion and when it is applied to self, it is called renunciation," added Lama. Ogyen Trinley Dorje, who fled to India in January 2001, following religious suppression and human rights violations by the Chinese, has now settled in Dharamsala. The 17th Karmapa Lama is the head of the Karma Kagyu sect of Buddhism, headquartered at Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim. Indian Government has granted refugee status to the 17th Karmapa Lama.