His Holiness the Dalai Lama accepted a longlife prayer offering from the Tibetan community in Australia on Sunday at the Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia where the Tibetan leader arrived on a ten day visit last week.
The Tibetan leader thanked the Australian Tibetan community for the prayers for his longlife and asked them to continue their support and cooperation with the Central Tibetan Administration. "Many of you have come here as refugees for a second time from India. And you’ve made this Long-Life Offering to me due to your dedication to the Tibetan cause. We’re also joined here by brothers and sisters who follow the same teacher from Vietnam, Mongolia and our neighbour Bhutan. I’d like to thank you all."
His Holiness said that the Tibetans in exile should work for the welfare of Tibetans in Tibet who are not free to speak out. The Tibetan leader while lauding the spirit of the Tibetans inside Tibet said that the amazing spirit is alive even in children and younger ones in Tibet.
His Holiness then drove to Carrington Hotel where he was greeted by over a hundred Chinese intellectuals. The Tibetan leader expressed his pleasure being able to meet with the Chinese audience.
Stressing on the importance of dialogue among humans to resolves issues the Tibetan leader said a lot of problems the world faces today are creations of humans themselves. “I’m happy to meet you. Wherever I go I think of myself as just another human being. As human beings we are all the same, so it is meaningful to think of the oneness of humanity. It naturally reduces any sense of enmity amongst us. Look at what’s happening in the Middle East where people are unfortunately killing each other in the name of religion. A lot of problems we face today are our own creation. We all want to live a happy life, and yet we make problems for ourselves. We see each other in terms of ‘us’ and ‘them’. The use of force can’t resolve the conflicts that result; we have to talk to each other."
On Monday, the Tibetan leader continued his Buddhist teachings and visited the Katoomba school with the mayor. The Tibetan leader who turns 80 in July was welcomed on the stage by over 3600 people waiting to hear him.
The Tibetan leader said that the basic nature of humans right after birth is compassionate and that everybody has the potential to be compassionate. “We all have the seed of love and compassion within us. This is a source of hope for humanity and we need to pay more attention to it. Unfortunately, humane values that are strong in us when we are young tend to fade as we grow up and become more independent. Our existing education system is oriented towards materialism and has little time for inner values. Ordinarily people have looked to religion for humane values, but 1 billion out of the 7 billion human beings alive today have no faith and don’t consider the practice of compassion to have much worth. Meanwhile, among religious people there are many who are insincere, so even religion, which should bring tolerance, harmony and inner peace, can become a source of conflict.
The Tibetan leader said the appropriate way to develop inner values may now be to develop secular ethics. "Some of my friends are wary of the term secular, but according to the Indian interpretation it doesn’t mean something distant from religion, but having a respect for all religious traditions and even for the views of those who have no faith," said the Tibetan leader.
Visit to Uluru
The Dalai Lama is preparing to visit Uluru for the first time on his latest tour of Australia.
The spiritual leader has been to Australia nine times but has never been able to visit the ancient landmark and offer his respect to the traditional owners.
He will finally get his chance on Saturday, and will be greeted at the base of Uluru by the traditional owners. He will also be taken on a walk to Mutitjulu Waterhole and sit down with park rangers under a traditional shelter.
Dalai Lama speaking in Brisbane, June 2015
