wfn.org | Dalai Lama walked peace through gate

[BethAH@mbm.org]

November 8, 2000
Beth Hawn
Communications Coordinator
Mennonite Board of Missions
phone (219) 294-7523
fax (219) 294-8669
<www.MBM.org>

November 8, 2000

First person: Dalai Lama walked peace through gate that divides

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (MBM/COM) – The scenes on Thursday
afternoon, Oct. 19, in my neighborhood at the bottom of the
street, beside the peace wall and large steel gates across
Workman Avenue, were a stark contrast from this past July.

Last July, a large crowd of Protestants on Workman Avenue carried
Union Jacks, waiting to see the Orange Order march through the
gates and up Springfield Road on the Catholic side of the wall.
When the police opened the heavy steel gates for the waiting
Orange men, a loud roaring cheer went up from the Protestant
crowd.

The sound expressed their delight over the “victory” of seeing
the Orange Order make their way through the gate and up
Springfield Road against the wishes of many Catholics on the
other side of the wall.  I remember that cheer so well.  It
carried a spirit of anger, bitterness and division into the air
to fall on the ears of Catholics waiting on the other side, who
were holding a silent protest to the Orange march, and to
Catholic neighbors holed up in their homes avoiding the
spectacle.

On Oct. 19, crowds were again on both sides of the wall.  There
were schoolchildren wearing their school uniforms.  There were
flags, too – only this time they weren’t waving British Union
Jacks or the Irish Tricolor.  The crowds on both sides of the
street were waving green, red, blue, white and yellow Tibetan
prayer flags.

But the really remarkable difference that still stands out in my
mind was the moment the gates were opened for the Dalai Lama.  He
got out of a car near the peace wall on the Protestant side,
walked along the street smiling, laughing and stopping to talk
with the Protestant school-children and to shake their hands.
Then, like the Orange Order last summer, he stood at the huge,
heavy steel gates, and he waited for them to be opened by the
police.

As the gates in the peace wall swung open, a mighty cheer went up
from both sides of the peace wall.  Schoolchildren and adults
alike cheered and waved flags as the Dalai Lama passed through.
As the people on the Protestant side of the wall followed him
with their eyes through the gate, they were greeted by the sight
of a large group of Catholic children holding up a banner
welcoming the Dalai Lama and his message of peace for West
Belfast.

Those gates are normally opened only once a year, in July for an
Orange parade.  But on Oct. 19, they were flung open for a
Buddhist monk and his message of peace.  The sound of the
cheering children is still dancing in my ears.  The spirit in
that cheer felt so different from the sound of the voices at the
gate last summer.

It is very sobering indeed that a “Christian” organization like
the Orange Order, which professes to uphold the ideals of Christ,
evangelism and the Reformation, can inflame so much bitterness
and division at those gates, while a Buddhist monk and an exile
from his homeland of Tibet can raise loud welcoming voices by
walking through those same gates.  It should give all professing
Christians here, and indeed everywhere, something to ponder: A
Buddhist monk can grasp and demonstrate so symbolically the way
of Jesus simply by walking through those gates to deliver a
message of peace.

Tibet has suffered so much under Chinese rule, with a million and
half Tibetans killed over the years.  So when the Dalai Lama
spoke to the crowds of the futility of the way of violence, and
the way of peace being the high path, he spoke from a deep well
of experience and pain.

He pointed out that while religion and philosophy may divide
people, ultimately all religion and all philosophy, if it bears
truth, points humanity to live and act upon the way of
compassion, forgiveness, love, patience and peace.  He was
calling people to be drawn together by their actions even where
their beliefs may divide them.  It was a simple but profound
message.  It was a message so valuable for Ireland, torn apart
over the centuries by battles over orthodoxy and political
passions.

It struck me that the kernel of truth in his message was very
similar to the message of the earliest Anabaptists during the
Reformation.  For them, orthodoxy took second place.  Their goal
was to put into practice the way of Jesus – the way of
compassion, forgiveness, love, patience and peace.

The Dalai Lama concluded his speech by laughing and saying in a
strong Asian accent, “Is that helpful?”  The crowd cheered with
delight.  He laughed some more and then said, “If that helpful,
you remember it.  If that not helpful, then ... (he paused,
smiled, laughed a little and concluded) ... then you forget it.”
The crowd cheered more and agreed it was helpful.

The Dalai Lama is a small man and as he stood, he looked even
smaller when flanked on either side by a local Protestant
minister and a Catholic priest.  Both the minister and the priest
were pulled closer together as he hugged them.  Then he glanced
up and noted that both had white beards.   He laughed and reached
up and tugged at both their beards – two of the most respected
religious men in Belfast! – in a playful gesture. The crowd
laughed with delight.

This summer there will be more stone-throwing and trouble at the
gates and along the peace wall, but there will certainly be
people who also remember the Dalai Lama’s visit.  Let us hope
that a few people will be reminded of what a Buddhist monk taught
us about what it means to follow Jesus.

* * *

David Moser, who is jointly appointed by Mennonite Board of
Missions (Mennonite Church) and the Commission on Overseas
Mission (General Conference Mennonite Church) works with the
Belfast Central Mission of the Springfield Road Methodist Church
in West Belfast.  He serves on the pastoral team and is helping
to develop a community and reconciliation center.