The-Tibetan-Book-of-Living-and-Dying

SERVANTS OF PEACE 365guarded them so long. May the day come soon when themonasteries and nunneries of Tibet rise again from theirrubble, and the vast spaces of Tibet again are dedicated topeace and the pursuit of enlightenment.A large part of the future of humanity may depend on thereestablishment of a free Tibet, a Tibet that would act as asanctuary for seekers of all kinds and of all faiths, and as thewisdom heart of an evolving world, the laboratory in whichhighest insights and sacred technologies could be tested,refined, and enacted again, as they were for so many centuries,to serve now as an inspiration and help to the wholehuman race in its hour of danger. It is hard to find the perfectenvironment to practice this wisdom in a world like ours; aTibet restored, purified by tragedy and with a determinationrenewed by all that it has suffered, would be that environment,and so of crucial importance for the evolution ofhumanity.I would like to dedicate this book to the hundreds of thousandswho died in the terror in Tibet, witnessing at the endtheir faith and the wonderful vision of the Buddha's teachings,and to those who have died this past century in similarlyappalling conditions: to the Jews, to the Cambodians, to theRussians, to the victims of two world wars, to all those whodied abandoned and unremembered, and to all those who goon and on being deprived of the opportunity to practice theirspiritual path.Many masters believe that the Tibetan teachings are nowentering into a new age; there are a number of prophecies byPadmasambhava and other visionary masters that foretell oftheir coming to the West. Now that this time has come, Iknow that the teachings will take on a new life. This new lifewill necessitate changes, but I believe that any adaptationsmust spring from a very deep understanding, in order to avoidbetraying the purity of the tradition or its power, or the timelessnessof its truth. If a depth of understanding of the traditionis fused with a real awareness of the problems andchallenges of modern life, adaptations will arise that will onlystrengthen, enlarge, and enrich the tradition, revealing everdeeper layers of the teachings themselves, and making themeven more effective in dealing with the difficulties of our time.Many of the great Tibetan masters who have visited theWest in the last thirty years have now passed away, and I amcertain that they died praying that the teachings would benefitnot only Tibetans, not only Buddhists, but the whole world. I