His Holiness the Dalai Lama meets with Taiwan’s Catholic Cardinal Shan [Wednesday, 2 September 2009, 12:40 p.m.]

His Holiness the Dalai Lama, gives a public speech, closed to foreign media, in  Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan, 1 September 2009/PHOTO:Reuters

Dharamshala: His Holiness the Dalai Lama drew more than 1,000 people to an arena in southern Taiwan today to witness his meeting with Catholic Cardinal Shan Kuo-hsi, on the third day of his five-day visit to comfort survivors of Typhoon Morakot, Bloomberg news agency reported. The two religious leaders received a standing ovation from the crowd at the Hanshin Arena in the city of Kaohsiung where they held a public dialogue for about two hours. His Holiness the Dalai Lama said a short prayer in Tibetan, after which a Christian choir sang a hymn in Mandarin and the cardinal said a prayer. “It’s great that two religions can get together, both have the goal of giving peace to people,” said Medusa Kuo, 33, an insurance broker who left her Tainan home at 5:30 a.m. today to see His Holiness the Dalai Lama. “Various major traditions I think still have a great important role on this planet,” His Holiness the Dalai Lama said today, when asked to compare Buddhism and Christianity. “We can’t buy peace of mind at the supermarket.” His Holiness hugged and thanked his interpreter at the end of the session and left the hall surrounded by police and security guards. His Holiness led prayers in front of about 15,000 people at the Kaohsiung Main Stadium on Tuesday. His Holiness will leave for Taipei later today, where he will stay until he leaves the country 4 September, said Sunny Jien, a spokeswoman for the Kaohsiung city government.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama presides over a prayer for Taiwan’s typhoon victims  at Kaohsuing Main Stadium/AP

Earlier on Monday, His Holiness the Dalai Lama gave an exclusive interview to the CNN. His Holiness reiterated that Tibet is not seeking separation from China.”Most of the world who notices about Tibet, who pay more attention about Tibet, everybody knows, I am not seeking independence. The Chinese government also knows my sort of real thinking,” His Holiness old the CNN. “But they accuse – accusations as to just more, for them, suitable for their basic policy,” His Holiness added.”Sometimes I really feel, as I think many of my friends know, I always am described as a simple Buddhist monk. I always tell other people, my friends, we should be honest, truthful, transparent. So while I am telling other people, I myself must implement these things,” His Holiness said.