Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche speaks on Universal Responsibility at Harvard Divinity School

Earlier this month, Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche gave a one-day seminar on the topic of Universal Responsibility to students at Harvard Divinity School. From the video page:

In this one night seminar given to students at Harvard University’s School of Divinity, Kongtrul Rinpoche explains that not all learning is academic. In fact, the best kind of education shapes our hearts just as much as our minds. Self-reflecting upon experience and coming to see that all beings share the same internal life — that of desiring happiness and avoiding pain – we learn the value of cultivating a good heart. A sense of “universal responsibility” arises out of that good heart when we recognize all beings are essentially equal. This recognition can lead to personal healing and growth. And it opens up avenues to dream bigger and bigger, and manifest as we learn. When this universal responsibility becomes our baseline then progress and sustainability can go hand in hand. Machines and science and technology can do so much for us. However, we must ensure that human beings with this sense of universal responsibility, guided by a good heart, are the ones running the show; not the other way around.

More: Looking for more Dharma teachings?http://mangalashribhuti.org/watch

In a non-connected but related story, a movement is growing at Harvard to divest the university from all fossil fuel investments, a sign that responsibility is being taken seriously by at least a few there. A faculty letter written last week reads:

Divestment is an act of ethical responsibility, a protest against current practices that cannot be altered as quickly or effectively by other means.  The University either invests in fossil fuel corporations, or it divests… Slavery was once an investment issue, as were apartheid and the harm caused by smoking.

Read the full letter here.