Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
After the terrorist attacks in the United States in September 2001 and the beginning of war in the Middle East, Lama Zopa Rinpoche wrote an open letter to former U.S. President George W. Bush about the effectiveness of spiritual solutions for the crisis the world was facing.
“War is what ordinary people in the world regard as the solution,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche wrote. “The problem is that war, even if it is won, is like a medicine that has side effects. It may temporarily help the situation but afterwards there will be continual complications. Why? Because the people you defeat generate hatred towards you and in future generations they harm you back. In the natural law of actions, called karma in Sanskrit, the action of harming leaves an imprint on the mental continuum and that imprint is like a seed. When it ripens later, the person experiences the result of receiving harm from others.”
From Mandala March-May 2002.