His Holiness the Dalai Lama optimistic about Obama, return to TibetBy Jay LindsayThe Associated Press/Boston GlobeWednesday, 29 April 2009

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

CAMBRIDGE, Mass:
Hands reached for him, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama reached back.
With a broad smile, he exited a news conference Wednesday clasping the
fingers of anyone in reach, offering his blessing, a laugh, and a bit
of hope from a leader five decades in exile.Hope was a theme of
His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s remarks: about the Obama administration,
about the prospects for change within the Chinese government and about
his own eventual return to his native Tibet, 50 years after his
harrowing flight over the Himalayas into India.When His Holiness was asked if he thought he would ever go home, he quickly answered, “Oh, yes.”His
Holiness the Dalai Lama took questions Wednesday at the start of a
four-day visit to Massachusetts as part of a U.S. tour. Stops at
Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are
scheduled before a public appearance Saturday at Gillette Stadium in
Foxboro to help fund construction of the Tibetan Heritage Center, a
Boston-area project to preserve Tibetan culture.The timing of
the tour, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s message of finding
happiness outside material things, was right amid global recession,
said Dhondup Phunkhang, a spokesman for the Tibetan Association of
Boston, which is building the heritage center.”It’s good, I think, for someone to have a message that is beyond financial matters and materialistic things,” he said.His
Holiness the Dalai Lama on Wednesday described U.S. policy toward Tibet
under Obama as “more or less the same” as under President George W.
Bush but added he was hopeful Obama’s open and “more straightforward”
style would spur positive change.His Holiness the Dalai Lama
said he would like to meet Obama when he visits Washington in October,
as he has every president since George H.W. Bush. George W. Bush was
the first to officially meet His Holiness the Dalai Lama, awarding him
the U.S. Congress’s highest civilian honor in 2007, a move that
outraged China. Bush’s predecessors had “dropped in” while His Holiness
the Dalai Lama met with advisers.His Holiness the Dalai Lama
said Wednesday he wasn’t concerned how Obama chose to meet him, a
decision with implications for Chinese-U.S. relations.”It doesn’t matter,” His Holiness said, with a wave of his hand and a laugh.His
Holiness also said he held out hope that Chinese policy toward Tibet
could ease because China must take steps to increase its moral
authority if it truly aspires to be a greater power.”China needs the rest of the world’s trust, respect,” His Holiness said.The
73-year-old His Holiness the Dalai Lama was unequivocal about his
belief that one day he would return to Tibet, after fleeing in March
1959 during a Chinese crackdown of a Tibetan uprising. But he said his
refugee status had allowed him to meet many people of various places
and traditions. He said he’d also learned to find a home all over the
world.”Wherever you find happiness, that’s your home,” His Holiness said.