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The notion of Shambhala altogether is very much to do with society.
And we are living in a time where people are more and more... there are more people first of all,
and at the same time there's more questions about life.
And at the same time there are more ways to insulate ourselves.
So technology is very good, we have computers and so forth,
but at the same time a lot of that creates some sort of lack of communication.
And the reason that this is is because there is a sort of missing link,
that more and more in humanity
people are wondering about the basic nature of being human and human society,
and within the Shambhala tradition we are expressing that the nature is Basic Goodness,
and in Tibetan we say Dömine Sangpo. Dömine means from the beginning,
And sangpo is a word that means pure, good and it also means complete.
So this is actually very simple,
and I know you're very smart people, so you will have no problem getting this principle.
So it's Basic Goodness,
and sometimes it sounds too simple.
In fact it does sound too simple.
So I have spent one year thinking about this (laughter),
and I have come to a very interesting conclusion.
And that conclusion is that there is such a thing as Basic Goodness.
And if you actually think about the person who expressed this, who was my father,
and if you just think for a moment that he went through very deep training in philosophy,
metaphysics, spiritual traditions; came to the West; studied, and presented this principle.
And I think that what happens now is that as things become more complicated,
somehow we think only complicated solutions will solve this,
but I believe that if we as humans do not have a
simple feeling about how we feel about ourselves, you know,
and this is a very important point is that how the mind thinks,
how the mind thinks especially about itself, is very important.
So how we got up to today and the moment we thought, how did you think?
Did you think "good or bad, confident or non-confident?",
...has a profound effect on the day, very profound.
So if you think about the notion of Basic Goodness,
and you think about as a feeling of how we feel, how humans feel.
And as the world is going on now, we are getting more feedback from television
and different things that question our inherent goodness.
So this is a very critical transition that we are going through.
Now if you can imagine that there is a group of people somewhere in the world.
If you can imagine there is somewhere in the world; it could be one small village.
And when you go to that town and you ask them, "How does everyone feel?".
And they say "We believe in the basic goodness of humanity".
And you say "Oh, does that mean that life is easy in the village?".
They say "No. We have parking problems, you know. The trains are sometimes a little dirty.
"Sometimes the waiter doesn't bring the food on time.
Sometimes between relationships there is arguments".
It is a very powerful ... moment.
And I'm always surprised at the programs, the retreats,
because somewhere along the line, all of us, we do touch that inner confidence,
even if it is just a moment.
So Basic Goodness. I wanted to start with that.