Love Is Action E-Book

Gyalwang Drukpa

• Herausgeber: BoD - Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 92

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

Love is Action - On the Path of Great Compassion This newly published book shares profound teachings given by The Gyalwang Drukpa during the 1st European Bike Yatra in both the early morning and evening hours. The Gyalwang Drukpa's pilgrimages are more than just journeys across the landscape of this earth. They are paths that lead to one's true nature, to greater mindfulness, to a deeper awareness of the need to protect the Earth, and to a new way of living together - in which spirituality means taking responsibility for all forms of life. Only when we understand the importance of the Earth and all living beings does true compassion grow - and with it, the drive to act, preserve, and protect. What we do to the Earth, we ultimately do to ourselves - because we are not separate from it, even if we have forgotten that. Every tree cut down, every source polluted, and every species lost leaves a wound in our own habitat. But in the same way, every good deed also heals us: a planted tree provides us with oxygen and beauty, a clean river offers clarity, and a protected animal gives us hope. Those who protect the environment safeguard our hearts, our humanity, and the future generations.

Leseprobe

Content

Introduction

May 27, 2024: Kick-off in Hamburg

The First European Bike Yatra

The most constant thing is change

Your thoughts create your world

At first, the mind is wild

It depends entirely on our ability to focus our concentration on one point

One Pointed Mind – Sanskrit: Ekagrata

First me, then you – our link to the shadow

From the mind to the spirit. From thinking to pure awareness

Everything is emptiness. And form is the condensation of emptiness

Arrival in Copenhagen

LIVE TO LOVE – Love is Action

For 25 years now, the Gyalwang Drukpa has been leading pilgrimages – on foot or by bike – to spread the meaningful message LOVE IS ACTION! under the umbrella of the secular Live To Love movement he founded. All people, regardless of religion, social status, or education, are invited to participate.

Every contribution to environmental protection and equality is of utmost importance – not only for our generation, but especially for future generations.

The Gyalwang Drukpa‘s first Yatras took him through cities on the Indian subcontinent and to the most remote regions of the Himalayan region in India and Nepal. Together with his monks and the Drukpa Kung Fu nuns, the Gyalwang Drukpa spared no effort to raise awareness of the need to preserve the earth, its people, and its animals.

What began as a local initiative grew into an international movement, culminating in a premiere in Europe. “Together toward the future!” was the motto of the 1st European Bike Yatra, which led from Hamburg to Copenhagen through breathtaking landscapes and a wealth of encounters.

It was an indescribable blessing that the Gyalwang Drukpa shared profound teachings to all participants every day. His wealth of parables and explanations are a compass – a spiritual route that leads to the attainment of Great Compassion.

Treasures should be shared!

This book was created out of this motivation, offering as many people as possible the opportunity to participate.

We hope you enjoy reading and contemplating it.

Sincerely

President of Live To Love Germany

Reception at City Hall by Katharina Fegebank, second mayor of Hamburg

Kick-off of the cycling pilgrimage from Hamburg to Copenhagen The first stage goes from Hamburg to Lütjensee

The First European Bike Yatra

I asked Live To Love Germany to organize this Bicycle Yatra, because they are very professional in everything they do. Originally, of course, many more people wanted to participate, but when they found out that I might not be able to make it, they lost interest. What does this show? It indicates that people are mainly interested in me and less in Live To Love, environmental issues, and other topics close to our hearts. So, they are interested in me. That is very kind of them because they love me and want to be in my physical presence. But that is not really right.

We are organizing this pilgrimage to support the environment. We are doing it for our future and that of upcoming generations. Global warming must be acknowledged because climate change poses a real threat to us all. Yesterday, I received news that a Singapore Airlines plane was struck by severe turbulence. One man lost his life. Many other passengers were also on that plane, but they survived the incident. Many are injured.

Anyway, the reason I‘m telling you this is because of global warming and climate change, which we have been exposed to for a long time and will continue to be exposed to if we don‘t finally wake up. Climate change causes severe, painful losses. People and animals are dying. We will suffer greatly as long as we stay trapped in our ignorance and lack of understanding.

Whether I am there to lead the cycling group should not be a requirement for participation. The key question is whether someone is planning and carrying out these kinds of events. And we should all wholeheartedly support that.

That’s why I thank everyone who works really well together – for the future, for the world, to make it a truly beautiful place. Not just for this generation, but for those to come. Future generations should really enjoy living in this world without fear of air turbulence, floods, forest fires, and storms.

When it comes to these man-made disasters, your wealth or your country‘s wealth doesn‘t matter. You can‘t control these events because nature‘s forces are very powerful when they are out of balance. Nature is very powerful. It was just reported in the news that we still lack the technology to accurately predict when such disturbances might happen.

Anyway, the night before last, we received a very warm welcome at Hamburg Airport. Yesterday morning, we had a very friendly reception from Hamburg‘s second mayor, Katharina Fegebank, at the historic town hall of the Hanseatic city. She was very interested in the activities of our Drukpa Kung Fu nuns, and the exchange was very, very nice and inspiring. This was followed by interviews with TV media at Hamburg‘s famous Jungfernstieg. All the flags, the blue sky, and the cheerful, open-minded atmosphere made us all very happy.

When we started our bike pilgrimage, the Hamburg police convoy on motorcycles led us through the city, not just to our first rest stop, where we were also expected by a regional TV station, but well beyond. It was full of energy and enthusiasm. What a great start!

We have gathered here in Europe driven by deep compassion. The Buddhists among us may say that we are compassionate and true Buddhists. So we are not just temporary, fun Buddhists, but dedicated students of philosophy. That means we must be genuinely committed to authentic compassion. We also need to be sincerely dedicated to open and unconditional love. Because that is what truly matters.

For example, I have had shoulder pain for more than three months that isn‘t getting better. Still, my doctors advised me not to cancel this trip but to go and simply take it a little slower. I was very happy to hear that. So, at the last minute, I told Gianna la, ‘I‘m coming after all, and I‘m already at the airport.’ I sent her a selfie. At first, she was completely silent, then she cheered with joy. I was so happy when my doctors told me, ‘You can travel, but you have to be careful.’ Of course, I need to take care of myself, but when I heard I could lead this pilgrimage, I was very happy because it‘s a wonderful thing we‘re doing for the good of the world, nature, and the elements that make up both the world and us.

In this way, we serve nature, nourish it by planting trees and doing much more.

I must say that our Live To Love community in Germany is doing an excellent job. They are working very hard to reach our goals. Maybe you as a group haven‘t had much chance to focus on it during our tour so far, but on our first route, we saw many trees planted by Live To Love Germany. Each tree has a Live To Love sign. That‘s why I felt confident to energize this trip. I requested, and Gianna la happily and willingly agreed. As a result, she and the team worked hard to make it happen – and now we are here. Lord Buddha said, ‘We must work for each other. We must open our hearts to everyone. Not only to humans and animals, but also to Mother Earth.’

Because we live in natural interdependence. Everything is connected; nothing exists in isolation. We are not capable of living completely independently. We can‘t do it, even if we sometimes selfishly insist we don‘t need anyone and are entirely self-sufficient. Many people believe they are so great that they can survive on their own, not relying on anyone or needing anything. Sometimes, I even feel that way, I must admit. But in reality, we can‘t survive without help from others. We depend on people, on healthy individuals. We need healthy animals, healthy trees, and clean, healthy water. We also depend on clean air. Don‘t you agree? That‘s why we work so hard. That‘s why we are here now. We may talk from time to time, maybe even every day. Thank you very much.

Stage from Lütjensee to Salem – Meeting with Mayor Rainer Kloth in Klein Trebbow – Planting of a maple tree – Planting of two climate trees at the campsite in Retgendorf

Change is the only constant in life

We biked here from Hamburg, which took several hours. This demonstrates that everything is temporary. Everything is temporary. Unfortunately, we often refuse to acknowledge this and hardly notice it. We don‘t want to get old. We want to stay young forever. But that‘s impossible. That‘s why we should always remember the transience of life.

That is the teaching of Buddha. First, however, one must learn to understand suffering, because suffering only confirms impermanence. It occurs for different reasons and then disappears again. Physical pain is a simple example of suffering. Suffering simply reveals the impermanence of everything. The fact that everything is impermanent and that suffering is a cycle we can‘t avoid is another matter. By understanding this, awareness of impermanence can become a helpful and important part of your life. Then you will move beyond your resistance to this part of reality and be able to live well with the knowledge of impermanence.

Instead of constantly trying to control your body and everything related to it, we should let the body be. We should allow nature to take care of itself because it has its own way of managing things. That is what we believe. And that applies to all impermanent areas.

Once you understand this, you‘ll not only be able to live with it, but you‘ll also become increasingly free from suffering. As you know, Buddhists talk a lot about suffering, which can sometimes be boring. So, let‘s talk about happiness now and how happy we are right now. This happiness is also due to impermanence. We feel happy. But this state will also change because of impermanence. It might even become something happier. Spiritual teachings say we need to learn to understand life. This requires developing wisdom. As spiritual practitioners, Buddhists, or yogis, we should let things unfold more naturally and stop trying to control them. That is what we must practice. I‘m not saying we should avoid taking medication, for example. I take medication for my shoulder. I use Tibetan medicine, Ayurvedic medicine, homeopathic medicine, and allopathic medicine. I‘m open to anything that might help. But we should learn on a deeper level that there is also a natural way of self-healing.

Meeting with Mayor Rainer Kloth in Klein Trebbow