Congress on care of the terminally ill

Dr. Balfour Mount and Christine Longaker

Dr. Balfour Mount organized Sogyal Rinpoche's visit to Montreal. He is pictured here with Christine Longaker, education director of the Spiritual Care Program, at seminar in September 2000

In September 1998, Sogyal Rinpoche was invited to give the opening address at the 12th International Congress on Care of the Terminally Ill in Montreal, organized by Dr. Balfour Mount of McGill University's Palliative Care Division.

Before the main conference began, there was a special one-day seminar called "Wholeness and Healing in Health Care." The guest speakers represented a diverse number of faiths including Humanist, Sufi, Mohawk and Judaism, and all embodied the living experience of their traditions. Sogyal Rinpoche shared the last session of the day with Father Laurence Freeman from the Christian Meditation Centre. Father Laurence reflected on the richness of the seminar:

As we share the wisdom from each other's traditions, how can we be true to the wisdom that is contained, uniquely, in each of these traditions; and yet how can we be true to our own tradition, to love it and be faithful to it without becoming trapped in it, in the prison of prejudice or superiority? How can we be truly tolerant, truly open, not only when we're with a diverse group, but also when we're on our own, or when we are praying or meditating, or spending time with people of our own tradition?

The following evening Sogyal Rinpoche gave the opening plenary "A Buddhist Sense of Time for the Year 2000" to an audience of 1,500 caregivers. Dr. Mount gave a moving introduction in which he spoke of "the example of joy, peace, justice, tolerance, and nonviolence" set by the Tibetan people and the Dalai Lama in their "years of lamentation." He then played an exquisite and moving slide show of portraits of Tibetans.

Inspired by the setting, Sogyal Rinpoche gave a brilliant and captivating talk drawing together the themes of working with this time of change and working with the dying. The talk began quite formally at the podium, but after a short time Rinpoche was moved to sit and deepen the teaching as he explained how the practices of meditation and compassion can truly benefit not only ourselves but also those we serve.