Just Do It

"Engaging Compassion" with Gehlek Rimpoche

by Jimmy Viola

Fri., Jan. 23, 7:30 p.m., free, Philadelphia Ethical Society, 1906 Rittenhouse Square, 215-735-3456, phillyethics.net

Tibetan Buddhists talk about karma and reincarnation the same way most people in America regard Sunday's football game and plans for next weekend — it's simply part of life. Gehlek Rimpoche, one of the last lamas to be raised and educated in Tibet prior to the Chinese occupation in 1959, was recognized as a child to be a reincarnation of a highly regarded monk. He returns to fulfill his vow of helping others through Buddha's teachings of attaining enlightenment through unconditional love and compassion and the relinquishing of attachment, jealously, anger and hatred.

"What is true compassion and how does it influence individuals?" Rimpoche says about what he will discuss in a speech titled "Engaging Compassion." "What the difference is between love and the pity feelings and even looking down on a person?"

Buddhists may all share the goal of achieving a state of enlightenment, but it is his wit and humor that distinguishes Rimpoche from his contemporaries. His most recent book, Good Life, Good Death, humanizes Tibetan Buddhist monks, portraying them with desires and fears. His writings also mention everything from quantum physics in relation to universal consciousness to funny LSD stories from Rimpoche's Beat Generation friends, like poet Allen Ginsberg.

In addition to "Engaging Compassion," Rimpoche will also be leading a meditation workshop at the Philadelphia Meditation Center (Sat., Jan. 24, 11 a.m., 8 E. Eagle Road, Havertown, 610-853-8200, philadelphiameditation.org); and addressing Philadelphia's Tibetan community in their native tongue at the Kalmyks Brotherhood Society (Sat., Jan. 24, 6:30 p.m., 129 E. Courtland St., kalmykphilly.org).