THE WISDOM
OF
FORGIVENESS
long to an inseparable continuum. When something happens to one, the other is affected—the interdependence of all things has been the Dalai Lama’s mantra for half a century. Nowadays, even mainstream doctors and researchers are coming to the same conclusion. A disorder in the kidney can have grave consequences for the brain. And depression is now considered a major risk factor for heart disease—it may well be as bad as high cholesterol. After all, body and mind share the same building blocks—blood, nerves, hormones, antibodies. This was how the Dalai Lama puts it: “Training of the mind, this means strengthening those positive emotions such as forgiveness and compassion, such as dedication to others’ welfare. Negative emotions like hatred, jealousy, these are what you call enemies. These negative emotions, through training, we can minimize. This mind training, according to some scientists, is very much relevant to our health. “Take forgiveness. Two levels here. One level: forgiveness means you shouldn’t develop feelings of revenge. Because revenge harms the other person, therefore it is a form of violence. With violence, there is usually counterviolence. This generates even more violence—the problem never goes away. So that is one level. Another level: forgiveness means you should try not to develop feelings of anger toward your enemy. Anger doesn’t solve the problem. Anger only brings uncomfortable feelings to yourself. Anger destroys your own peace of mind. Your happy mood never comes, not while anger remains. I think that’s the main reason why we should
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