The Search for Meaning in Life

"The cry in every human heart is the search for meaning to life," writes the editorialist in the Tamil copy of The Daily Mirror. "Each one however has to make that decision to go in search and make his or her own discoveries. The question then is whether we want to, during this span of our lives, find the way, the truth and life."

"The truth," Krishnamurti observed, "is a pathless land."

"Humanity was in a sorry mess for thousands of years," we read in the Daily Mirror's insightful article recapping the celebrations of the 2,600th anniversary of the Buddha's enlightenment. "Destiny always sought one who would be receptive enough to be imbued with enlightenment. The Buddha yearned to know the way and the truth for greater meaning to his life. He traversed the path and made such discoveries that he shared with all beings. The Dhamma was discovered and sown in human hearts through his teachings."

"Now," the editorialist continues, "in the frontiers of hope, we want to catch a glimpse of its birth in other wombs that are conducive to giving life. Creation is awaiting the new arrival in every generation. The creative force is lying dormant within our inner being, wanting to reveal to those who seek."

"There had to be a beginning to the earth we live in," we are reminded. "From within the Source, the cosmos was made to be. If we, the creatures have intelligence, then surely there had and has to be an even greater intelligence and power behind creation. Like the banks hold resources or wealth in their vaults, there is a repository of wisdom and truth, buried within the psyche of creation. Siddhartha Gautama was a thinker of that age, influenced in the matrix of Hinduism. Buddha discovers the seeds of truth. To a lesser degree, down the ages, there have been other great thinkers, who unearthed a few of those seeds of Truth. From the sages in the Himalayas to the great thinkers like Aristotle and Socrates; from discoveries made in the field of various sciences to the other achievements of man, the creative power of wisdom has generously sowed its seeds in those who sought them. The discoveries have enriched and blessed, so that all would benefit in every generation."

In a recent lecture at the University of Mumbai, in which he reflected on the truths of ancient wisdom and the realities of modern life, His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama observed: "This marvelous human intelligence is sometimes used for wrong purpose(s)."

The younger generations, he suggests, reflecting on the sorrows and fears of the twentieth-centrury must develop inner "peace." And such peace, he observes, is available through the ancient teachings of the Buddha and Buddhist tradition."