Prelude Melodia Africana I by Ludovico Einaudi
Opening Words by David Usher (adapted)
We come together today, seeking a reality beyond our narrow selves; that binds us in compassion, love, and understanding to other human beings, and to the interdependent web of all living things.
May our hearts and minds be opened this hour, to the power and the insight that weaves together the scattered threads of our experience, and help us remember the Wholeness of which we are part.
We come together to renew our faith in the holiness, the goodness, the beauty of life.
To reaffirm the way of the open mind and the full heart; to rekindle the flame of memory and hope; and to reclaim the vision of an earth more fair, with all her people one.
Chalice Lighting (you may wish to light a candle in your own home at this point). Words by Kyle McDonald
Today I light our chalice for those who are embroiled in conflict, for they may not be able to burn with the serenity of compassion.
Today I light our chalice for the downtrodden and the hopeless, for they may not be able to light their own flames of joy.
Today I light our chalice for those who stand in defiance of tyranny, for they may not be able to light their own beacons of harmony.
Today I light our chalice for the innocent and the hungry, for they may not be able to light their own fires of warmth.
Today I light our chalice in Peace.
Opening Prayer
Spirit of Life and Love,
be with us as we gather for worship,
each in our own place.
Help us to feel a sense of community,
even though we are physically apart.
Help us to care for each other,
in this world in which the clouds
of war, poverty, and climate change hover.
May we keep in touch however we can,
and help each other, however we may.
Help us to be grateful for the freedoms we have
and to respect the wishes of others.
May we hold in our hearts all those
who are grieving, lost, alone,
suffering in any way,
Amen
Reading Excerpt from Dalai Lama’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, 10th December 1989
No matter what part of the world we come from, fundamentally we are all the same human beings. We all seek happiness and want to avoid suffering. We all have essentially the same needs and similar concerns. As human beings, we all want to be free, to have the right to decide our own destiny as individuals as well as the destiny of our people. That is human nature.
The problems that confront us today are created by man, whether they are violent conflicts, destruction of the environment, poverty, or hunger. These problems can be resolved thanks to human efforts, by understanding that we are brothers and sisters and by developing this sense of fraternity. We must cultivate a universal responsibility toward each other and extend it to the planet that we have to share.
I feel optimistic that the ancient values that have sustained mankind are reaffirming themselves today, preparing the way for a better, happier twenty-first century.
I pray for all of us, oppressor and friend, so that together we can succeed in building a better world through mutual understanding and love, and that in doing so we may reduce the pain and suffering of all sentient beings.
Alternative Lord’s Prayer
Spirit of Life and Love, here and everywhere,
May we be aware of your presence in our lives.
May our world be blessed.
May our daily needs be met,
And may our shortcomings be forgiven,
As we forgive those of others.
Give us the strength to resist wrong-doing,
The inspiration and guidance to do right,
And the wisdom to know the difference.
We are your hands in the world; help us to grow.
May we have compassion for all living beings,
And receive whatever life brings,
With courage and trust. Amen
Reading Excerpt from A sense of responsibility is born from compassion from My Spiritual Autobiography by the Dalai Lama
A mind dedicated to compassion is like an overflowing reservoir: it is a constant source of energy, determination, and goodness. You could compare compassion to a seed. If you cultivate it, it makes an abundance of other excellent qualities blossom, such as forgiveness, tolerance, inner strength, and confidence, allowing us to conquer fear and anxiety. The compassionate mind is like an elixir: it has the strength to turn adverse situations into beneficial circumstances. Therefore, we shouldn’t limit our expression of love and compassion just to our family and friends…. It necessarily concerns all domains of the human community….
When I consider the lack of cooperation in society, I tell myself it is due to ignorance of our interdependent nature. I am often moved by little insects, like bees. The laws of nature dictate that they work together in order to survive, since they are endowed with an instinctive sense of social responsibility… they faithfully work together because of their nature. There are times when they might fight, but in general the entire colony survives thanks to cooperation. Human beings have constitutions, elaborate legal systems and police forces, religions, remarkable intelligence, and hearts endowed with the ability to love. But despite these extraordinary qualities, in actual practice we lag behind the smallest of insects. In some ways, I feel that we are poorer than the bees.
I think that despite the rapid advances that civilization has made over the past century, the immediate cause of our present situation is exclusively privileging material progress above all else. We… have neglected to pay attention to the essential human needs of love, kindness, co-operation, and caring. It is clear to me that an authentic sense of responsibility can emerge only if we develop compassion. Only a spontaneous feeling of empathy toward others can motivate us to act on their behalf.
Prayer Bodhisattva Prayer for Humanity by Shantideva
Apparently, the Dalai Lama prays using these words every morning…
May I be a guard for those who need protection
A guide for those on the path
A boat, a raft, a bridge for those who wish to cross the flood
May I be a lamp in the darkness
A resting place for the weary
A healing medicine for all who are sick
A vase of plenty, a tree of miracles
And for the boundless multitudes of living beings
May I bring sustenance and awakening
Enduring like the earth and sky
Until all beings are freed from sorrow
And all are awakened.
Reading 90th Birthday Message by the Dalai Lama 5th July 2025
On the occasion of my 90th birthday, I understand that well-wishers and friends in many places, including Tibetan communities, are gathering for celebrations. I particularly appreciate the fact that many of you are using the occasion to engage in initiatives that highlight the importance of compassion, warm-heartedness, and altruism.
I am just a simple Buddhist monk; I don’t normally engage in birthday celebrations. However, since you are organizing events focused on my birthday I wish to share some thoughts.
While it is important to work for material development, it is vital to focus on achieving peace of mind through cultivating a good heart and by being compassionate, not just toward near and dear ones, but toward everyone. Through this, you will contribute to making the world a better place.
As for myself, I will continue to focus on my commitments of promoting human values, religious harmony, drawing attention to the ancient Indian wisdom which explains the workings of mind and emotions, and Tibetan culture and heritage, which has so much potential to contribute to the world through its emphasis on peace of mind and compassion.
I develop determination and courage in my daily life through the teachings of the Buddha and Indian masters such as Shantideva, whose following aspiration I strive to uphold.
As long as space endures,
As long as sentient being remains,
Until then, may I too remain
To dispel the miseries of the world.
Thank you for using the opportunity of my birthday to cultivate peace of mind and compassion.
Tashi Deleg and with prayers,
Dalai Lama
Time of Stillness and Reflection Words of Truth by the Dalai Lama
This prayer was written in 1960, with the people of Tibet in mind, but it is just as relevant today, for all the people across the world who are suffering in so many ways.
Honouring and Invoking the Great Compassion
of the Three Jewels; the Buddha, the Teachings,
and the Spiritual Community
O Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and disciples
of the past, present, and future:
Having remarkable qualities
Immeasurably vast as the ocean,
Who regard all helpless sentient beings
as your only child;
Please consider the truth of my anguished pleas.
Buddha’s full teachings dispel the pain of worldly
existence and self-oriented peace;
May they flourish, spreading prosperity and happiness through-
out this spacious world.
O holders of the Dharma: scholars
and realized practitioners;
May your tenfold virtuous practice prevail.
Humble sentient beings, tormented
by sufferings without cease,
Completely suppressed by seemingly endless
and terribly intense, negative deeds,
May all their fears from unbearable war, famine,
and disease be pacified,
To freely breathe an ocean of happiness and well-being.
And particularly the pious people
of the Land of Snows who, through various means,
Are mercilessly destroyed by barbaric hordes
on the side of darkness,
Kindly let the power of your compassion arise,
To quickly stem the flow of blood and tears.
Those unrelentingly cruel ones, objects of compassion,
Maddened by delusion’s evils,
wantonly destroy themselves and others;
May they achieve the eye of wisdom,
knowing what must be done and undone,
And abide in the glory of friendship and love.
May this heartfelt wish of total freedom for all Tibet,
Which has been awaited for a long time,
be spontaneously fulfilled;
Please grant soon the good fortune to enjoy
The happy celebration of spiritual with temporal rule.
[silence]
O protector Chenrezig, compassionately care for
Those who have undergone myriad hardships,
Completely sacrificing their most cherished lives,
bodies, and wealth,
For the sake of the teachings, practitioners,
people, and nation.
Thus, the protector Chenrezig made vast prayers
Before the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas
To fully embrace the Land of Snows;
May the good results of these prayers now quickly appear.
By the profound interdependence of emptiness
and relative forms,
Together with the force of great compassion
in the Three Jewels and their Words of Truth,
And through the power
of the infallible law of actions and their fruits,
May this truthful prayer be unhindered
and quickly fulfilled.
Musical Interlude Stella del Mattino by Ludovico Einaudi
Address The Dalai Lama is 90
I believe that the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is a huge force for good in the world. Before speaking about his influence on the wider world, I’d like to share a potted biography of him, mainly taken from Wikipedia. He was born on 6th July 1935. As Dalai Lama, he is the highest spiritual leader and head of Tibetan Buddhism. He served as the resident spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet until 1959 and subsequently led the Tibetan government in exile represented by the Central Tibetan Administration in Dharamsala, India.
A belief central to the Tibetan Buddhist tradition as well as the institution of the Dalai Lama is that the reincarnated person is a living Bodhisattva, specifically an emanation of Chenrezig, the Bodhisattva of Compassion. He is also known to Tibetans as Gyalwa Rinpoche (“The Precious Jewel-like Buddha-Master”), Kundun (“The Presence”), and Yizhin Norbu (“The Wish-Fulfilling Gem”). His devotees, as well as much of the Western world, often call him His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He is the leader and a monk of the newest Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism.
The 14th Dalai Lama was born to a farming family in Taktser (Hongya village), in the traditional Tibetan region of Amdo, at the time a Chinese frontier district. He was selected as the tulku of the 13th Dalai Lama in 1937, and formally recognized as the 14th Dalai Lama in 1939, at the tender age of four. His enthronement ceremony was held in Lhasa on 22nd February 1940. When Communist Chinese forces entered and annexed Central Tibet, Ganden Phodrang invested the Dalai Lama with temporal duties on 17th November 1950 (at 15 years of age) until his exile in 1959.
During the 1959 Tibetan uprising, the Dalai Lama escaped to India, where he still lives. On 29th April 1959, he established the independent Tibetan government in exile in the north Indian hill station of Mussoorie, which then moved in May 1960 to Dharamshala, where he now resides. He retired as political head in 2011 to make way for a democratic government, the Central Tibetan Administration.
As a political as well as a religious leader, the Dalai Lama advocates for the welfare of Tibetans and since the early 1970s has called for the Middle Way Approach with China to peacefully resolve the issue of Tibet. This policy, adopted democratically by the Central Tibetan Administration and the Tibetan people through long discussions, seeks to find a middle ground, “a practical approach and mutually beneficial to both Tibetans and Chinese, in which Tibetans can preserve their culture and religion and uphold their identity,” and China’s assertion of sovereignty over Tibet, aiming to address the interests of both parties through dialogue and communication and for Tibet to remain a part of China.
Until reaching his mid-80s, the Dalai Lama travelled worldwide to give Tibetan Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism teachings, and his Kalachakra teachings and initiations were international events. He also attended conferences on a wide range of subjects, including the relationship between religion and science, met with other world leaders, religious leaders, philosophers, and scientists, online and in-person. Since 2018, he has continued to teach on a reduced schedule, limiting his travel to within India only, and occasionally addressing international audiences via live webcasts. His work includes focus on the environment, economics, women’s rights, non-violence, interfaith dialogue (most notably with his dear friend, the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu), physics, astronomy, Buddhism and science, cognitive neuroscience, reproductive health and sexuality.
He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. Time magazine named him Gandhi‘s spiritual heir to nonviolence. The 12th General Assembly of the Asian Buddhist Conference for Peace in New Delhi unanimously recognized the Dalai Lama’s contributions to global peace, his lifelong efforts in uniting Buddhist communities worldwide, and bestowed upon him the title of “Universal Supreme Leader of the Buddhist World”; they also designated 6th July, his birthday, as the Universal Day of Compassion.
In short, he’s quite a guy! I shared two passages and one prayer of his during the service, but could have chosen so many more. His core values are, as he said in his 90th birthday message, “the importance of compassion, warm-heartedness, and altruism.” He also said, “While it is important to work for material development, it is vital to focus on achieving peace of mind through cultivating a good heart and by being compassionate, not just toward near and dear ones, but toward everyone. Through this, you will contribute to making the world a better place.”
Which I guess are values which it is easy for most Unitarians to agree with, to get behind. I find his writings inspirational, and love the fact that he is not in the business of converting others to Buddhism. On the contrary, he writes, “It is preferable to keep to our original spiritual traditions… I am convinced that it is always more satisfying to deepen and preserve the religion of one’s ancestors.” Yet he also points out that “Although the philosophical views [of the great religions of the world] differ and sometimes contradict each other, in spiritual practice all religions are connected. They all recommend inner transformation of our stream of consciousness, which will make us better, more devout people.”
He advocates tolerance and acceptance for the religious and spiritual traditions of others, writing, “For each person, there is one single way and one single truth to acquire, but one must still accept the truth of other traditions. Even if another tradition goes against our own convictions, it has its own reason for being, in the support it provides for others. So we should have our own convictions, on the one hand, but on the other hand, we should keep our minds open and tolerant toward those who don’t share them.”
Which is quite a remarkable statement for a world religious leader to make, I think. It is pluralist, rather than inclusive, a position that Unitarians share, but few others seem to. He also makes an important distinction between religion and spirituality, writing, “Religion implies a system of beliefs based on metaphysical foundations, along with the teaching of dogmas, rituals, or prayers. Spirituality, however, corresponds to the development of human qualities such as love, compassion, patience, tolerance, forgiveness, or a sense of responsibility. That is why I have sometimes stated that one can do without religion, but not without spirituality.”
His work for his people, the Tibetans, is well-known. What is perhaps less well known is his fierce advocacy for wider human rights and for the environment. I also respect the efforts he has made down the years to improve interfaith dialogue. If you have never watched the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu in action together, I urge you to google them, or look for the programmes on BBCiPlayer. They wrote a book together, The Book of Joy, to celebrate their decades of friendship, and to answer the question, “how do we find joy in the face of suffering?” It’s a wonderful book, which I highly recommend.
I will finish by sharing a poem the Dalai Lama wrote in the 1990s, which sums up his message quite well:
Be a source of hope!
Whatever happens
Never lose hope!
Develop your heart.
In your country, too much energy
Is devoted to cultivating the mind.
Be a source of compassion,
Not just for your friends,
But for everyone,
Be a source of compassion.
Work for peace.
And I tell you again,
Never lose hope,
Whatever happens,
Whatever happens around you:
Never lose hope!
Closing Words
Spirit of Life and Love,
May we rejoice that the Dalai Lama
is still in the world at 90 years of age.
May we learn from his good example,
to walk humbly, and be compassionate,
recognising the interdependence of all beings.
May we return to our everyday world refreshed,
may we share the love we feel,
may we look out for each other,
and may we keep up our hearts,
now and in the days to come, Amen
Postlude Melodica Africana II by Ludovico Einaudi