Sendai, Japan, 5 November 2011 - His Holiness went
out into a grayish morning in Sendai, his seventh full day in Japan, and
drove for an hour or so the 30 miles that lead to Ishinomaki, the area
most devastated by the tsunami of March 11. As his car approached the
area, the scene took on an air of unutterable sadness: houses sat like
empty sockets, their first floors shattered and ravaged by the storm
(while their second floors sat untouched); telephone poles stood at
45-degree angles, and cars could be seen still floating on the water.
His Holiness' car passed crumpled gas stations, houses that were just
gaping holes, huge boats keeled over in the sea. What was once clearly a
busy neighborhood was now a ghost town, rows upon rows of houses
buckled over and crumbling, cars piled up in mountains of scrap meal.
Roughly 12,000 people died on a single day here, and only 4000 of their bodies have been found.
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His Holiness the Dalai Lama surveys
the damage done by the tsunami that devastated the area last March in
Ishinomaki, Japan, on November 5, 2011. Photo/Tenzin Choejor/OHHDL
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In the middle of the desolation--there was rubble
everywhere, graves were crushed with their headstones falling over,
pieces of washing still hung out in front of skeleton houses, and a
chair sat in a hollowed-out living-room--His Holiness got out of his car
and walked right over to the people who had gathered in the street to
see him.
"What do you feel?" he asked them, extending a
strong hand and arm. "Are you still sad?" Women broke down weeping in
front of him, some sobbing, "Thank you, thank you." In this scene of
high emotion, His Holiness said, "Some sorrow befell you here. That's
all finished now. You can't change what's happened. Please change your
hearts, be brave. Please help everyone else, and help others become more
okay."
The people in the crowd fell quiet and nodded as he
spoke. "Too many people died," he said. "If you worry, it can't help
them. Please work hard; that is the best offering you can make to the
dead. I'm so happy I could come and see you."
As he turned around, His Holiness took off his glasses and wiped away some tears.
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His Holiness the Dalai Lama greets
young children who survived the tsunami that devastated the area last
March in Ishinomaki, Japan, on November 5, 2011. Photo/Tenzin
Choejor/OHHDL
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Then, in a long procession of black-robed
monks, to the sound of solemn chanting, His Holiness walked in from the
road and slowly up the path towards the local temple, Saikoji, past
wreckage on every side, more gravestones crushed or tilted over,
greeting a group of kindergarten children, all in blue uniforms, who had
been at school the day of the calamity and so survived. Around him
trees were torn into stumps and a line of small stone Jizos (the
Japanese god of children) sat with red bibs around their necks,
protecting the living and the dead.
Walking between the long lines of people seated on chairs outside
the front entrance, His Holiness entered the temple, prostrating three
times before its central Buddha. Then a packed audience within recited
the Heart Sutra in Japanese, and His Holiness led some Tibetan monks in
chanting the sutra in Tibetan.
His Holiness began by speaking about how he had come to share the
pain of the people here, "particularly those who lost one of their dear
friends or relatives," and reminded them how, as the tragedy unfolded,
"many people in all parts of the world, as soon as they heard of the
situation, thought, `You are not alone.'
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His Holiness the Dalai Lama speaking at Saikoji Temple in Ishinomaki, Japan, on November 5, 2011.
Photo/Kimimasa Mayama
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"As soon as I heard of this tragedy, on the
BBC news, I instantly felt, `How much pain!' And remembered my many
trips to Japan since 1967." Beside him, next to the altar, were fifty or
more colored packages neatly lined up, with the bones of the dead
inside them, and in front of them framed portraits of the deceased, both
young and old, with bottles of tea or keepsakes to remember them. "On
the way here," His Holiness went on, "I asked the driver if the tsunami
had come here. Then I noticed, suddenly, everything was completely
different. I was very much moved. When I shook the hands of the people
here, tears came to my eyes.
"But, it already happened. And as humans, we have intelligence. When
such a thing happens, we must think. With our intelligence, combined
with self-confidence, we can overcome all these problems. So tragedy
certainly, naturally, brings sadness and demoralizes us; but now you
must transform it into enthusiasm an self-confidence and work hard to
rebuild your lives, your country. Particularly with these young children
here: provide them with education and let them lead another happy new
generation."
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Members of the crowd listening to
His Holiness the Dalai Lama speak at Saikoji Temple in Ishinomaki,
Japan, on November 5, 2011. Photo/Tenzin Choejor/OHHDL
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As he went on, in front of hundreds in the
temple, and many hundreds more seated outside, and standing at the back,
following his every movement on screen, His Holiness recalled how, in
his own life, leaving Lhasa in 1959, he had left behind many friends
"and one small dog" and then heard, two days later, that many of them
were dead. "Of course I felt a lot of sadness. But, as I mentioned
earlier, I had my intelligence, and also my belief in truth. So the
tragedy could be transformed into a source of inner strength. Now, 52
years have passed, and I always keep determination, enthusiasm."
He remembered, too, how Japan, through hard work, had rebuilt a new
country from the ashes of war, particularly through "your very good
sense of co-operation."
Then, walking to the front of the temple, he addressed directly
those sitting outside. "Whether we are believers or not, it doesn't
matter," he said. "We must be realistic. So one Buddhist teacher, in the
8th century, explained: `If a tragedy happens, look at that tragedy
holistically. Then you can overcome it. So don't worry. Work hard. Try
to work things out. If there's no way to work it out, there's no need to
worry."
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His Holiness the Dalai Lama speaks
to those that have gathered outside the Saikoji Temple in Ishinomaki,
Japan, on November 5, 2011. Photo/Kimimasa Mayama
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For those in theistic traditions, he said,
"all these mysterious events are actually God's creation. So there must
be some meaning. So look at it that way. And in non-theistic traditions,
such as Buddhism, everything is due to its own causes. Karma may come
from this lifetime, but it may even come from previous lifetimes. From
the Buddhist point of view, we must make forceful positive karma, which
can be stronger than the previous negative karma. This can reduce or
even eliminate the previous negative karma.
"So look forward. Lead some kind of new life, full of determination.
Lead your life in an honest way, a truthful way. By truthful acts, by
compassionate acts, increase positive karma.
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His Holiness the Dalai Lama poses
with children that had offered him flowers after speaking at Saikoji
Temple in Ishinomaki, Japan, on November 5, 2011.
Photo/Tenzin Choejor/OHHDL
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"This is not the time for worry, for sadness.
But with determination, and a Japanese sense of co-operation, you must
rebuild this town; this is a good chance to show the world Japanese
efficiency, Japanese ability. And, after rebuilding a new happy town,
please send an invitation to me, and I will come and we will have a big
festival."
Everyone in the large audience was clearly moved, and after five
children presented His Holiness with flowers, one after another, he
asked them to pose for a picture with him, saying, "Smile, smile" to one
shy little boy, and tickling him on the cheek. By the time he emerged
from the temple, it was possible to see the scenes of destruction in a
different light, as His Holiness walked slowly back, holding older
people who reached out for him, for a long, long time, comforting women
carrying framed pictures of their lost ones.
*****
In the afternoon, in an atmosphere of sonorous bells and dark
lanterns, His Holiness spoke inside Koushoji temple, at the center of
the city of Sendai, and delivered a Buddhist address about overcoming
suffering to a large audience, many in monastic robes and suits. "If
some tragedy comes," he explained, "you must look at it carefully. And
you must try to transform it, even though you can't change the event
itself. I met many victims today: at first their pain was perhaps on the
outside, but now it's inside, invisible. For external pain, you can
take medicine, see a doctor. But for inner pain, you must practice and
make it better yourself.
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His Holiness the Dalai Lama speaking at Koushoji Temple in Sendai, Japan, on November 5, 2011.
Photo/Tenzin Choejor/OHHDL
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"If you only think about your loss, for
example, it increases the pain. But if, when your house is gone, you
think about making a new, beautiful home, you can transform it into a
positive. If you think, `Why is this suffering coming to me?' that, too,
increases the pain. That kind of thought is a delusion. See things in a
wider perspective, and you can make you pain smaller."
In the morning, before sobbing crowds, he had spoken from the heart
and reached the hearts of many; in the afternoon, he gave the
complementary, and more analytical Buddhist teaching, of how we must
look at suffering realistically and transform it into possibility. He
might have been a doctor, first offering sympathy and then, a diagnosis.
In the diagnosis lay the cure, and the sense that in each of us is the
capacity to begin to heal ourselves--in part by tending to others
