An Open Letter to the Dalai Lama - By Sailesh Rao - 15 Dec 2012
Archive of Comments and Discussions - Questions and Answers From All-Creatures.org

Our subjects cover: animals, religion (Christian, Jewish and others); diet and lifestyle (vegan and vegetarian); and other miscellaneous subjects.

Dear Mary and Frank,

It is a pleasure to connect with you and to know of the wonderful work that you are doing.

I sent the attached email message to the Dalai Lama's representative in Europe, who I had been in touch with. However, one of my Facebook friends pointed me to the open letter that was written in 2007 by Norm Phelps in All-Creatures.org. I assume that there was no response to that letter?

At Climate Healers, we're thinking of orchestrating a wide open contest among all the Nobel Peace Laureates of the world as to who will step forward and announce a vegan conversion on behalf of the planet first. From our side, we can announce that the winner will be invited to inaugurate the Sedona Unity Temple (my wife and I have the title to a beautiful piece of land in Sedona, Arizona, on which we're planning to build an Unity Open Air Temple that will celebrate compassion for all creation from every major faith and wisdom tradition's perspective. One of our friends, Mike Roddy, has been doing the legwork for permissions on the project and it appears to be very doable.) when it is completed. We should solicit other prizes so that we can garner more press attention for the contest and ratchet up the pressure on these Peace Laureates.

Please let me know if you would be interested in participating in some way, either in the Sedona Temple project or in the Peace Laureate contest.

All the best,
Sailesh.



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sailesh Rao <[email protected]>
Date: Thu, Dec 13, 2012 at 11:23 AM
Subject: Compassion and HH Dalai Lama
To: Thubten Samdup <[email protected]>

Dear Thubten,

I hope you recall our correspondence last year regarding HH The Dalai Lama's possible participation in the Wisdom Summit. I'm now writing to you for help on another extremely urgent matter.

Since our correspondence last year, I wrote a book, "Carbon Dharma: The Occupation of Butterflies," detailing how Compassion for all Creation is central to any possible solution to the environmental crises that we face today. During COP-17 in Durban, South Africa, 2011, about 40 leaders of all major faiths of the world, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, signed a declaration to that effect and presented it to the UN. I'm attaching a photo of the UN ceremony where I'm right behind Ela Gandhi, the granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi and Christiana Figueres, the Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC. However, signing declarations is the easy part, but actions are needed now more than ever.

As such, I was truly heartened to read in the press that HH endorsed Compassion for Animals in a recent ceremony in India. However, this event was held in conjunction with Humane Society International, a well-known advocate for "humane" meat, which is the product of a process where people show compassion for farm animals until they slit their baby throats. This tempered my optimism. Further, I read that HH will be speaking about "Engaging Compassion" on May 19, 2013 at the Kentucky Fried Chicken YUM! Center in Louisville, Kentucky. This disheartened me again. However, knowing the fundamental sincerity of HH, I felt that he can use that occasion in Kentucky for a dramatic announcement that can truly uplift the spirits of all people around the globe.

I'm sure that HH is aware that his consumption of animal foods has been the subject of considerable public criticism. I'm also aware that he has privately expressed the wish to abstain from such consumption, much as Gandhi expressed his wish to stop drinking milk. (I have a dear friend who used to be employed as a Liaison Officer in the Consulate General of India and he received HH as the guest of the Consulate and related to me this wish.) However, unlike Gandhiji, HH now has access in almost every corner of the globe to a wide variety of plant-based foods that are guaranteed to provide all of his nutritional needs. Even the US FDA has acknowledged that plant-based foods are nutritionally adequate for all ages of human beings. Therefore, HH can truly fulfill his wish today and send a message to the world that Compassion for Animals can be put into action three times a day, 365 days a year. And that would be such an uplifting message for HH to deliver from the KFC YUM! Center, while setting a powerful personal example.

I'm traveling to India Dec. 26 - Jan 12 and would be delighted to visit Dharamsala to further this conversation. I would also like to present HH with an autographed copy of my book, Carbon Dharma, and I would appreciate it very much if you could facilitate that.

Thank you very much for all your kindness,
Sailesh Rao.
--
Sailesh Krishna Rao, Ph. D.
Executive Director, Climate Healers, Inc.
3145 E Chandler Blvd #110-233Phoenix, AZ 85048

Go on to comments: By Lynn van Dyke - 20 Feb 2013
Return to: An Open Letter to the Dalai Lama
Return to: Discussion Table of Contents