Forgiveness

Earlier this week we watched the first video from the collection which documented His Holiness The Dalai Lama’s visit to Manchester last year. It was an incredible weekend. Buying the video collection at the time seemed like a good way to recapture some of the learning.

So, after a break of a few months it was great to begin to work through the films.

For the first sitting, the most profound section for me was the section on forgiveness. It was part of the Question and Answer section for the young people’s talk on the Saturday afternoon. A film had just been shown of a young girl and the steps she had taken to forgive the killer of her father.

His Holiness then set out to explain forgiveness. He states that forgiveness is not the same as forgetting. When we forgive someone for their actions, we must distinguish between the action and the actor. We accept what they have done, but we do not forget it. And we can still hold a strong view that their action is completely wrong. We are forgiving them. If we do not forgive, the feelings we continue to hold will harm us.

It’s a powerful thought – one which I have been contemplating throughout the week.