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Practices for World Peace Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Recent Advice for Generating Peace in the World When the world is in trouble, it can feel very powerless and overwhelming to not know what we can do to actually help. IMI Sangha recently asked Lama Zopa Rinpoche for advice on prayers and practices they could do at this time. We are happy to share this valuable advice with you as well: Sampa Lhundrupma Recitation of Guru Rinpoche mantra Heart Sutra recitation Prayer to stop war: Prayer in Accordance with the Times Most Secret Hayagriva sadhana (for those who have received the initiation and can do the practice) Download compilation: Prayers to Stop War – Prayers 1–3 Download Prayer in Accordance with the Three Times – Prayer 4. For those who can do, or sponsor at a monastery, please also do: Drugchuma Most Secret Hayagriva Tsog Kong Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice for how to motivate and think when doing these prayers and practices:At the beginning generate strong bodhicitta, then do these prayers and practices to stop the war between Russia and Ukraine. The main purpose is to stop the war immediately. Then also to prevent famine, disease, and all the dangers of earth, water, fire, and wind, for all these dangers to be pacified immediately. To fill the whole world with perfect peace and happiness, including enlightenment, and to generate loving kindness, compassion and bodhicitta in the heart of all sentient beings, especially in that of the President of Russia.Think that from Guru Padmasambhava’s heart, beams radiate and totally purify all the six realms’ sentient beings, totally purify all the delusions and negative karmas collected from beginningless rebirths, especially anger, attachment, and ignorance; think that these are totally purified. Then recite Sampa Lhundrupma, followed by the Padmasambhava mantra (one or two malas).With strong faith in Guru Padmasambhava and total reliance, Guru Padmasambhava will definitely help because his compassion embraces all sentient beings.Then another way to think is, with strong faith in His Holiness the Dalai Lama in the aspect or Guru Padmasambhava, nectar beams are emitted to the Russian President and enter his body, and totally purify all his negative karma and obscurations; all the dissatisfied mind, desire, ignorance, anger, and selfish mind are totally purified; he generates bodhicitta especially, and then the whole path to enlightenment. Do that very strongly, making strong prayers to His Holiness the Dalai Lama.Then nectar beams are also emitted to all the Russian and Ukrainian armies, and these purify all the anger and self-cherishing thought on both sides, but mainly President Putin’s. They generate bodhicitta, and stop giving harm to even one sentient being and only benefit sentient beings, up to enlightenment.Then recite the Heart Sutra and the prayer to stop wars.For those who can do the Most Secret Hayagriva sadhana, do this at the beginning of the practice. When reciting the mantra, you can do the same visualizations as above, and think President Putin’s mind is totally changed and he generates bodhicitta. Source: Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition website, article Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Recent Advice for Generating Peace in the World. My additional thoughts: Always believe that peace and harmony are possible! Never lose your heart even if times appear grim!

China is fighting a propaganda war. Beijing's plan is to shift all blame from China for the initial botched response concerning the outbreak. The communist government is claiming that it has largely controlled the epidemic, even as it suspiciously now blames “foreign arrivals” for new cases of virus. Videos smuggled out from China shows huge lines at a hospital in Chongqing, raising questions about just what is happening around the country. What Beijing cares about is clear from its sustained war on global public opinion. Chinese mouthpieces have launched a broad attack against the facts, attempting to rewrite history. Chinese state media is touting the government’s effective governance. The truth is that Beijing dropped the ball early on because of long-standing CCP policy. Chinese officials knew about the new virus back in early December, and did nothing early on except to persecute their true heroes sounding the alarm! China also has enablers abroad helping to whitewash Beijing’s culpability. The World Health Organization refused for months to declare a pandemic, and instead thanked China for “making us safer,” a comment straight out of an Orwell novel. Most egregiously, some Chinese government officials have gone so far as to state that the Wuhan virus was not indigenous to China at all. The reality is that China did not tell its own people about the risk for weeks and refused to let in major foreign epidemiological teams, including from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Thus, the world could not get accurate information and laboratory samples early on. Because of China’s initial failures, governments around the world, including democratic ones, now are being forced to take extreme actions that mimic many of Beijing’s authoritarian tendencies,. Not least of the changes proposed will be in more invasive, digital surveillance of citizens, (public safety has always been the main venue to curb freedom and we all need to keep that in mind as the world transforms around us), so as to be able to better track and stop the spread of future epidemics, a step that WILL NOT be necessary, yet it will be an argument parroted by most government because, of Beijing's slipshod incompetence.

This guy... he has a gift as a statesman. Every time I see him speak on video I am impressed again. And I consider Russia the enemy and him a bad guy, so this is really saying something. Someone via Anonymous theorizes that Russia hates the USA and wanted Trump to win solely because they think it will ruin us, like mwahahahaha. They point out the close relation of Russia with China. Which Trump is the enemy of due to the trade stuff he insisting on. But I think maybe he just has a point about the whole military and war stuff, namely that we simply do not take him (or anyone else) seriously. I remember Iran's former lunatic leader whose name I forget right now. He said that he could say the most specific things about his intents to do us in and that our response was basically to wave it away like he couldn't possibly mean it. (I see the left doing that concerning Islam and Sharia as well. Like we simply cannot wrap our brains around anybody thinking differently than we do. A lot of that was seen in the recent election I suspect.) I found this video interesting. I don't know what room the new President will have for making changes, if any, in our approach to war... but it would be nice if we would at the very least, take more seriously international leaders. I turned this up to 1.5 speed in the settings which is more reasonable, for reading the subtitles. RC

Shintoism has similarities with Tao according to my limited knowledge. However, this was also the primary religion in Japan during the time of Japan's nationalism and sense of superiority over other countries that led to the great World War II. How did roots in such a peaceful philosophy and way of life lead to this mentality in the people and involvement in the war?

Wrote an introduction Blog post on Ukraine, as I'm from there and I believe it be interesting to look deeper within my mind and heart, to see if there is anything that would be interesting to share. http://leonidbasin.blogspot.com/2014/03/thoughts-on-ukraine-russia-debacle.html