Human Nature

His Holiness the Dalai Lama spoke of human nature and its basic goodness in his book with Howard C. Cutler M.D. called, The Art of Happiness in a Troubled World (Doubleday, c2009):

The basic goodness of human beings doesn't rule out that there will be these destructive acts like we saw on 9/11. We can't expect that every human being will live in accordance with these principles reflecting our basic human nature. After all, all our spiritual teachers failed to turn the entirety of humanity into something good. The Buddha failed. Jesus Christ failed. But then to go on to say that since all these great masters in the past failed, we will fail too, so, well then, why bother? That approach is also foolish. We should do what we can.

Mindful Politics

I am in the process of reading a book that I am going to go ahead and recommend. It is a book of essays called, Mindful Politics: A Buddhist Guide to Making the World a Better Place. Melvin McLeod, the editor, is a lifelong student of politics and is the editor of two Buddhist magazines. Mindful Politics, c 2006, is published by Wisdom Publications of Boston.

The introduction begins with McLeod saying that if Buddha ran for public office he would have a four-point platform:

• May all beings enjoy happiness and the root of  happiness.
• May they be free from suffering and the root of suffering.
• May they not be separated from the great happiness devoid of suffering.
• May they dwell in the great equanimity free of passion, aggression, and ignorance.

He says that this platform is known as the four limitless ones and that the key word is "all." This prayer rather encapsulates the book.

The very thoughtful book includes different types of Buddhism and is divided into into three sections: View, Practice, and Action. Contributors include Thich Nhat Hanh, Sam Harris (author of The End of Faith), The Dalai Lama, Jerry Brown, Pema Chodron, Trungpa Rinpoche, bell hooks, Ezra Bayda, Meg Wheatley, and many more.


In our highly charged, extremely partisan, and rapidly changing global world this can be a very helpful book --as much as or more so than when it was first published.

What the World Needs Now

I have felt for some time that the religion writer Karen Armstrong is a prophet for our time. As a self-taught religious historian (comparative religion) she came to the conclusion that compassion is what ties the religions of the world together. She found that the main religions all developed in a time of conflict and that their answer was compassion based on the Golden Rule of treating others as one would wish to be treated.

This last book of hers, Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life, is a companion to her Charter for Compassion initiative. The Peace Advocate has its own page for that Charter (See the tab at the top or go here.) and the Charter's website is here.

I have read several of Armstrong's books now. (See the Beautiful Books tab at the top or go here.) I have thoroughly enjoyed them and have learned much. They read fairly academically in a dense, but interesting manner. The first chapter in this book may read that way, but the main thrust of the book is much more practical and straight forward.

Armstrong begins with compassion from and for the individual and ends up with compassion from nations for the world. She stresses the meditation of the Buddha on the Four Immeasurables and she continues to stress the Golden Rule.

She emphasizes that the book is a how-to. I have now read the book through and hope soon to reread it and study it. Reading groups are encouraged and there are resources for them available. The Charter's Facebook page has a page of its own devoted to the book.

As the old song says:

What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It's the only thing that there's just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love,
No not just for some but for everyone.

I believe that time is now.