The Good Heart- DVD- Volume 1

From the Gospel of Matthew

1994 was the year the Dalai Lama first prayed in Jerusalem and Lourdes as an interfaith pilgrim. It was also the year when he led an historic John Main seminar, “The Good Heart,” in London where for the first time he commented extensively on the Christian Gospels, as a Buddhist monk. In so doing he established a model for all future dialogue between the World’s religions: respect and reverence, humility, holy curiosity, deep interiority and great humor and humanity and the spirit of warm friendship.

The Dalai Lama insists on the need to see the fundamental differences between Buddhism and Christianity – such as over the idea of God. But he also highlights the “striking similarities and parallels” between the lives of the founders, their teachings on nonviolence and the progressive stages of spiritual development.

When I read these passages from the Gospels I am most of all reminded of the importance of tolerance and impartiality towards all creatures and of the importance of equanimity in developing these qualities. – HH The Dalai Lama

Commentary: The Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes. Dialogue with the Panel.