His Holiness opened his remarks by saying that basically human beings
are social animal and that our survival depends on the rest of the
human kind.  Therefore, taking care of others is taking care of self.
His Holiness stressed on the importance of giving without expecting
anything in return.

His Holiness then dwelt on the concept of giving in theistic and
non-theistic religions. he said that believers in theistic religions
understand that serving people is equivalent to serving God.  Here he
joked and said that since he is a believer in non-theistic religion, he
was an outsider. However, he thought while creating the world, God did
so with joy, harmony, peace and full of love, but since the world
became miserable  God may be feeling that something may have gone wrong
somewhere when he created it.

His Holiness said the believers in the non-theistic religions, look at
giving from the law of causality, that every experience is due to our
own Karma or action.

His Holiness said that in Buddhism, the practice of Boddhisattva ideal
has two levels.  At one level you dedicate your body, mind and virtues
to others.  This is antidote to one’s own avarie and miserliness. The
act of giving enhances one’s courage. His Holiness explained the
different aspects related to giving, what type (e.g. giving of arms,
drugs,  poison), appropriateness of the time of giving (e.g. offering
food in the afternoon to fully ordained monks in the evening when they
are not supposed to eat), or the attitude of giving (true act of giving
is not to satisfy oneself but to benefit the recipient. Similarly, it
is not a proper attitude if the benefactor is condescending towards the
recipient).

Another important act of giving is spiritual counsel or counseling on
general matters. His Holiness referred to the attitude of teachers to
students and doctors to patients in this category.

Thereafter, the co-panelists shared their views on their experience and
asked questions to His Holiness on the topic.  His Holiness touched on
the sameness of humanity during this session by saying that if we
looked at the earth from space, you do not perceive the differences
based on countries.  Similarly, he said we are all same human being
mentally, emotionally, physically even though we seem to be different
in terms of race or color, etc.  He therefore urged everyone to have a
sense of global responsibility based on the oneness of humanity.

His Holiness then dwelt on the negative aspect of “too much
nationalism” and referred to the situation in China, in the attitude
towards Japan. His Holiness also talked about the sometimes negative
role that religion is led to play in different parts of the world. He
said he admired the Indian society that has cultivated an environment
of tolerance for generations. He said the thoughts he had been sharing,
those of peace, nonviolence, compassion and religious harmony, etc.,
are all Indian thoughts and that he was just the messenger.

When asked whether the practice of altruism is really possible His
Holiness said that at the biological level of compassion, which is
limited, biased and mixed with attachment, the idea of total
selflessness is not possible. But at the other level of compassion
where with the help of wisdom unbiased compassion can be developed,
altruism may be possible.

His Holiness concluded by saying that ultimately motivation was important in the act of giving.

Following this session, His Holiness departed to Martin de Porres House
of Hospitality, a place that serves free food to people in need. His
Holiness mixed around with the people who had gathered for their lunch
(pasta, green salad and bread). He then helped in serving pasta to some
of the people before sitting down on a table with six other people. He
spent nearly an hour with these people as he ate the same lunch with
them.

Addressing the people there, His Holiness expressed his pleasure at
being able to come to the venue. He said in Buddhism the act of giving 
directly by your hand is considered important and he said he was
pleased to have been able to do that today.

Referring to himself also as a homeless, His Holiness said the Tibetans
had a saying that the place where you feel happy is your home and that
whoever gives you kindness is your parent. He therefore asked the
people to be happy and that human spirit is the source of inner
strength.

His Holiness said the experience reminded him of the time when he was young when
he greatly looked forward to sitting down with ordinary individuals. He
said such individuals were straightforward and did not have any
pretensions. Here, he said, there was no need of diplomatic smile.

His Holiness then answered a few questions from the people there.
Responding to a
question about the role of spiritualism, His Holiness said that in the
case of individuals, the concept of “one truth, one religion” may be
important, but in the case of a community it was beneficial to have the
concept of “several truths and several religions”. When asked  whether
he would be reborn the 15th time, His Holiness said that this
was at the mysterious level and he did not know. Asked what advice he
had for those teaching young children, he emphasized the importance of
affection and said that the children should feel cared for.

His Holiness then left the venue telling the people that he would love to come back again.

After some rest at the hotel, His Holiness participated in an event to
honor 49 people from 13 countries (25 women and 24 men with age ranging
from 12 to 77) who have been involved in different aspect of social
service and have been named recipients of Unsung Heroes of Compassion
award for 2009.  They included Tibetans Thuten Kesang from New Zealand,
Dorjee Dadul from Australia and Jigme Topgyal from the United States.

“These individuals have been selected as representatives of the tens of
thousands of people worldwide who quietly serve the disenfranchised and
work to improve our communities through their personal efforts,” event
chair Dick Grace, founder of Grace Family Vineyards and board chair of
Wisdom in Action, the organization hosting the event said.

Author Isabel Allende, actor Peter Coyote and author Jack Kornfield made remarks and introduced the honorees.

In his remarks, His Holiness the Dalai Lama expressed his admiration
for Mr. Dick Grace’s work saying that he is a man of action. He
recalled that at one time when Mr. Grace was traveling in a car in
Dharamsala and saw a Tibetan girl being attacked by a dog, he stopped
the car to take the girl to the hospital.

His Holiness said that our future depends on a healthy planet and
therefore everyone needed to seriously think about the wellbeing of
humanity. He congratulated the recipients of the award and asked them
not to be complacent but to continue their work.

Following his remarks, His Holiness answered some questions.  When
asked what should be done when the scope of problems seem vast while
the efforts seem small, His Holiness said that we should not be
expecting overnight results.  When asked how could people help Tibetans
for this and for generations, His Holiness said the real problem was
that the Chinese say there is no issue at all and that it was only a
handful of Tibetans who were creating the problem.  He said that since
March 10 last year he had been urging the Chinese authorities to show
to the world the reality in Tibet. He said if things are really good
and the information showed that what we had been saying was wrong, we
can apologize. He said we have nothing to complain if the Tibetan
people are happy.

His Holiness urged people to visit Tibet and to ask the Chinese
authorities that they want to see the reality. He referred to the
recent visit to Tibet by four German parliamentarians who reported that
they did not have free access in Tibet.  His Holiness said that he had
made clear that he was not seeking separation, but the problem is that
the Chinese Government simply dismiss the issue.

His Holiness then greeted each of the recipients personally.