A Message to Maui

Senator J. Kalani English shares his thoughts on the Dalai Lama's visit

The Maui Weekly
Thursday, May 03, 2007

J.M. Buck

click images for bigger

State Sen. J. Kalani English took two days off from the legislative session in Honolulu to attend the events surrounding the visit of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama on Maui. Despite the roiling controversy surrounding now-former head of the Department of Land and Natural Resources Peter Young, English felt that stepping away from the chaos at the Capitol and being present on Maui for the visit of the Dalai Lama was of the utmost importance, not only for himself, but also for all those that he must interact with and the thousands of people who will be affected by decisions he makes in the State Senate.

"This is probably the singular most important event in the evolution of Maui that we have had in a very long time," said English. "To have the embodiment of Avalokitesvara here—the emanation of compassion—will touch every being on the island, not only human but all sentient beings here."

On Wednesday afternoon after the teachings, English browsed through Tibetan Buddhist wares under the white canopies of a tent market that had sprung up like a nomad camp on the football field of the War Memorial. With a maroon zen—the traditional shawl-like garment worn by Tibetan Buddhist monks and lay practitioners—draped over his shoulder and dressed in his trademark slacks and aloha shirt, English shared his observations of some of the immediate effects the Dalai Lama has had on Maui's population.

"I already see it in the way people have reacted on Maui. There's traffic jams because of the Dalai Lama's presence, but people are more excited that the Dalai Lama is here and they're not getting road rage with the traffic."

He said that he has heard his friends on Maui telling each other to be kind, to be more tolerant and compassionate with their fellow man.

Before a crowd of over 10,000 people, His Holiness opened up a question and answer session after his teachings on Tuesday. One of the questions inquired how Hawai'i's native population could maintain their individual identities as indigenous people. English said the answer impacted him on a very practical level.

"His Holiness hit on something that I see a lot of people going out and doing. He said for Hawaiians to go out and take a Hawaiian name. Like my dear friend, Leona, who was with me [on Tuesday]. She went home and said 'Okay, I need to find a Hawaiian name.' She has 22 grandchildren and she's looking for a Hawaiian name now. So I think that was very practical and very, very powerful for people because the names have a vibration. She's looking in her genealogy now to find this. It causes all of that. I think on other levels, [to reflect on] the idea that this is a small place—the planet is— and we're a microcosm of it here on Maui. His idea of just being nice to each other is really, really important."

Though English did not have the opportunity to meet His Holiness, the lawmaker reverently relayed in a soft voice that to "be home on Maui and in the presence of the Dalai Lama" was a very moving experience for him.

English appeared very aware that his actions in the course of his political career must have the proper motivation.

"I took two days out of work to come back for this because it's very important for my district, and on a deep personal level, it's very important for me. To do my work properly and to be a functioning human being, I have to find balance. This is part of that balance. To take some time out of what we do to look for inner teachings and to look for pathways to enlightenment. And to also try to build your compassion to understand those that are against you and those that are with you and somehow transcend that whole paradigm.

"Particularly in the work that I do, I've seen it getting more and more and more adversarial and more and more confrontational and more and more in the realm of 'I need to destroy you because I don't agree with you.' Whereas what [His Holiness] was saying is you can disagree, but you can have aloha for each other when you disagree. I think that is a very important message for Maui."

Copyright © 2007 The Maui Weekly.

Original article URL: http://www.mauiweekly.com/features/story4194.aspx

Return to Sen. English Home Page - KalaniEnglish.com

Home Bills and Resolutions About Senator English Committees Community Profiles Newsletter Archive News Archive Capitol Web Site Media Photos

Connect with Senator English

OUR DISTRICT