Pomaia, 12 June: His Holiness the Dalai Lama started the day with an hour-long interview by Mr. Beppe Severgnini, a journalist, essayist and columnist of the largest selling Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. Then Dr. Dan Golman, the author, psychologist, and science journalist interviewed His Holiness the Dalai Lama for his new book. Dr. Golman was for twelve years with The New York Times, specializing in psychology and brain sciences.
In the afternoon, the Rome based Indian Ambassador to Italy Mr. Basant Kumar Gupta called on His Holiness the Dalai Lama. This was followed by a meeting with a delegation from the Sacred Convent of Assisi.
As there was great media interest on His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s visit to Italy, a Meet the Press was organized in the afternoon for over 80 journalists at Pomaia.
In his opening address to the press, His Holiness remarked on the surprisingly hot summer weather in Italy.
”Quite hot,” said His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He said how he had looked forward to visiting Italy, hoping for a cooler and pleasant weather. And to escape the hot and humid weather of Mumbai, India, where he give teaching prior to coming to Italy. But he said, the weather in Italy was unfortunately more or less the same as Mumbai.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama said he was honored and happy to be in Italy. Since his first visit to Lama Tsong Khapa Institute, the original vision is being carried on, even though generations have changed. “I feel very good,” he said.
He expressed his appreciation to the media for their interest and their presence.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama spoke about his three commitments in life.
He said he always consider himself as one of the human beings out of the 7 billion. Everyone has the same desire for love, affection and happiness, which is the basis for human love. Thus, he always advocated promotion of basic human values.
His Holiness said his main message is human love – the ultimate source of human happiness.
Human affection is basically biological factor and basis of our survival is human love. Irrespective of whether we believe in religion or not, whichever culture we belong to, all need love.
Speaking on his second commitment, His Holiness stressed the need for religious harmony. He mentioned that he always maintains lots of contact with the practitioners of other faiths and traditions, who carry the same practice of love, compassion, tolerance and forgiveness.
Emphasizing on the example of India, where all major religious traditions continue to co-exist peacefully for generations. His Holiness the Dalai Lama said that he has lived in India for over 50 years, India is a living example of many different religions co-existing peacefully for over 2000 years and even longer. So, he said religious harmony is possible.
As a Tibetan, His Holiness the Dalai Lama said he has always advocated preservation of Tibetan culture and the rich Buddhist knowledge and tradition. He emphasized his present role as just a spiritual leader, having handed over all his political responsibilities to the directly elected political leader in 2011. He said he had done this voluntarily, happily and proudly.
His Holiness emphasized the importance of role journalist can play in promoting human values and religious harmony. He said that media people should have long noses like that of an elephant to smell the front and behind of politicians and other people. In a democratic society, people have the right to know the truth and journalist should inform the public the reality. However, he said they must report truthfully, objectively and in an unbiased manner.
In response to a question on the football World Cup and his favorite team, His Holiness said he wasn’t interested in football.
He said that his main interest was overcoming negative emotions and generating positive emotions in his daily life. On a lighter note, he said, this was his kind of football, to which everyone applauded.
On a question about Chinese embracing Buddhism on a large scale, His Holiness mentioned that China has the most population of Buddhists in the world: now over 400 million. He remarked about the genuine interest shown by a growing number of Chinese from Mainland, who come to receive his teachings in India.
He mentioned that he had always advocated for genuine autonomy and living with the Chinese. “We are not seeking independence,” he said.
Reflecting on the Kalachakra Initiation in Bodh Gaya, India in 2012 His Holiness the Dalai Lama spoke about the different reactions from the Chinese authorities towards the Tibetans and the Chinese on their return home after attending the Initiation. He said while the Chinese did not face any problems on their return, the Tibetans were subjected to all kinds of questioning and also house detention.
He said next month, he was giving the Kalachakra Initiation in Ladakh, India and already, the Chinese authorities had imposed strict restrictions especially on those Tibetans in Tibet Autonomous Region.
On a question about religious conversion, His Holiness said that it was better and safer to keep one’s own traditional religious values. Changing religion is not easy and sometimes, it creates more problems. Of course, then there are some who have natural interest for other religions and it is their freedom to change.
Those interested in Buddhism, he advised them to try to study the Buddhist philosophy and investigate for oneself and then believe in it and practice it, rather than follow a teacher blindly. But, he emphasized if you change, you must respect to all faiths.
Replying to a query on the best method to deal with increasing number of refugees in Italy, His Holiness acknowledged the problem of influx of refugees especially from North Africa and Syria.
He said refugee face some problem in their homeland. No refugee comes to another country seeking holiday.
Sympathizing with the difficult situation faced by the refugees, His Holiness said we should provide as much as we can to help. But when we can’t, we should say so.
He said we must pay more attention to the problems in their country of origin such as economic, the ever increasing gap between the rich and poor on a global level and urged nations to help bridge the gap. He called on the richer nations to help poor countries by providing educational, economic and technical support.
He stated that the refugee problem was man-made and that everyone should take moral responsibility for this. He then touched on the concept of we vs they, which he said was outdated, root of all problems.
He said that his main hope for peace in the world was with the younger generation. He called on the youth to seek ways to create a more peaceful and more compassionate world.
He spoke about the research on inner values being carried out by American scientists over the past decade or so. He said, the scientists were now ready with a 3 weeks program and will soon start experimentation with volunteer students. The participants’ blood pressure and stress levels etc. would be measured prior to the start of the 3-week program and, look for changes at the end of the program.
He then touched on education of secular ethics. He drew on the example of great nation of India, whose constitution is based on secularism – respect for all religious traditions including respect for non-believers. In this regard, His Holiness spoke about the research carried out to try to develop an academic curriculum in schools, which he preferred to call “hygiene of emotion”.
He expressed hope that a draft curriculum for secular ethics would be available in next 2 to 3 years, which the schools could experiment with. If found useful, more and more schools could include the education of secular Ethics in their academic curriculum.
Answering a question on the Chinese leadership, His Holiness said he liked the hard working cultural Chinese people, but jokingly he said that the common sense in the brains of the hard liners in the Chinese leadership was unfortunately lacking.
On a question on Dalai Lama’s reincarnation, His Holiness said that he had way back in 1969 made it explicitly clear that the continuation of the institution of Dalai Lama is ultimately for the Tibetan people to decide. He remarked that the Chinese government was more concerned about the reincarnation of the 15th Dalai Lama than the present the Dalai Lama.
Tomorrow, on the fourth day of His Holiness Italian visit, he will bless the 5-meter tall four-armed Chenrezig statue and give a short teaching on the importance of developing love and compassion.
In the afternoon, His Holiness will leave for Livorno city.
