Sunday July 23, 2006

In the name of peace

Now in its fourth year, the annual World Peace Congress was recently held again this year in Verbania, Italy. JAMIE KHOO looks at this year’s theme of promoting ‘positive side effects’.

THE theme of this year’s World Peace Congress – “Positive Side Effects: The best investment for your health” is unusual. It felt slightly displaced to be in a conference that focuses not on how to make the inner workings of industries and careers more efficient and successful, but on making other people happy.

Still, in the midst of a largely cynical, embittered 21st-century world, it is heartening to see that deep, personal enthusiasm for world peace is still on the agenda for many.

CENTRE OF THE UNIVERSE: One of the participants making a sand mandala representing the unity of all major faiths in the world. — Pictures by JAMIE KHOO

Organised by prominent Tibetan lama, Lama Gangchen, and his organisation, the Lama Gangchen World Peace Foundation, the World Peace Congress, held in June, in Verbania, Italy, is now in its fourth year, and drew in guests from as far as China and Chile.

The congress was supported by NGOs backed by the United Nations, and speeches were given by people from a diverse range of industry –science, economic, media and spiritual.

Congress patron Lama Gangchen is especially known for his extensive work in healing and dharma (Buddhist teachings), but the congress looked not so much at spirituality but at the greater pressing need for positive spiritual values – compassion, patience, generosity, love – and holistic interaction in all arenas of our contemporary life and society.

Lama Gangchen has said, “Each thought, word and deed creates a reaction and a collateral effect,” which perfectly embodied the message of the congress – that positive action is needed to create positive side-effects and results.

Lama Gangchen: Known for his contribution to the healing arts.

The call for values that are traditionally dismissed as “soft” were re-ignited here; the congress reminded us that there can only be benefit from speaking with kinder words and work with compassion.

Based on a holistic belief that everything in the outer and inner universe is interconnected, that everything we do with our body, speech and mind creates a corresponding reaction and side-effect, the congress sought to reanimate discussions on how to create positive, beneficial effects and side-effects that would lead to a better quality of life for ourselves and others.

In a later interview with Lama Gangchen, he pointed out, “Positive side-effects are the best for your physical, mental and spiritual health. It’s not just something chemical, but also about our thoughts. It is about how we look at each other, our hearing, talking, touching.

“Everything, all action starts from our five senses so if we conduct ourselves in a peaceful, non-violent way, then the positive side-effects automatically come.”

Jamie Khoo was a former reporter for The Star and continues to contribute as a freelance writer to the newspaper and various other lifestyle publications around the Klang Valley. As a literature graduate, she has always been an ardent writer and is currently working on her first book.

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