HAMBURG: Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama yesterday graced a meeting marking the 25th anniversary of the Tibet Support Group, Germany and the 35th anniversary of the Tibetan Community in Germany, in Hamburg.
His Holiness was welcomed by Mrs Claudia Roth of the Green Party, who is Vice-President of the German Parliament, Mr Wolfgang Grader, President of the TID and Tibetan Community in Germany President Jampa Kungashar. They escorted him into a more than 1600 people cheered their greetings as he arrived. After initial words of welcome, everyone stood for the Tibetan National Anthem. This was followed by a short slide show to illustrate the Tibet Support Group’s (TSG) activities.
In his address, His Holiness the Dalai Lama expressed his deep appreciation of the Tibet Support Group’s support, adding that he knew how active they have been.
He spoke about different aspects of the Tibetan issue from the need to preserve the natural environment and the effect of climate change in Tibet, with consequences for 1 billion elsewhere in Asia who depend on Tibet’s rivers.
He also highlighted his concern to preserve Tibetan culture, a culture of peace and non-violence, and Tibet’s Buddhist traditions.
His Holiness mentioned that he has devolved all his political responsibilities to a young, dynamic elected leader, Dr Lobsang Sangay, who was sitting in the front row before him.
Before the meeting, His Holiness the Dalai Lama engaged in discussion with a group of leading journalists from all over Germany. Topics included modern technology, which by and large he approves of, with the proviso that it should serve us rather than the other way around. Regarding war he said he would like to ask combatants whether they really thought problems would be solved by fighting.
“People seem to become intoxicated with violence,” he said, “it’s difficult to stop them.”
He stressed the need to learn from the past and avoid repeating it. In the globalized world in which we live, he said it’s no longer helpful to restrict ourselves to the interests of ‘my community’ or even ‘my nation’, we need to think of what will benefit humanity as a whole.
Questioned about whether there were occasions when the use of force was the only solution, His Holiness conceded it was possible, but that it was difficult to judge. He felt that a non-violent approach is too often neglected. He mentioned there had been a suggestion that a group of Nobel Laureates, retired leaders, scientists, and thinkers such as President Havel might have gone to mediate prior to the second Iraq war. He discussed this with President Havel when he met him, by which time it was too late. He agreed that if more leaders today were women, the world might be a more peaceful place.
About the situation in Tibet His Holiness remarked that one of the problems was the deliberate neglect of Tibet’s rich culture. He said that while the Chinese love their own culture and language, so too do Tibetans love theirs. The difficulty is when Chinese authorities show Tibetan culture insufficient respect.
Asked how foreign governments could help he said it was difficult to say, but noted that there is still a lot of support for the Tibetan cause. He expressed appreciation of the way German Chancellor, Angela Merkel had recently been forthright in openly speaking at Tsinghua University in China about the need to respect human rights. In that context, he said that the 1.3 billion Chinese people have every right to know what is really going on and have the ability, on that basis, to judge right from wrong. Government censorship, amounting to fooling the people, is both immoral and unhelpful.
Finally His Holiness was asked his impression of Pope Francis and his answer was:
“Very good. He did well to dismiss the German bishop, who probably preached contentment in his church but lived in luxury himself. I was impressed. I also admired his attempt to build peace between Palestinians and Israelis. It may not succeed, but it was good to try.”
Earlier in the day, His Holiness the Dalai Lama gave an Avalokiteshvara Empowerment to the general public at the Congress Centre.
Today, he is scheduled to fly back to India at the end of this short, but warmly received visit to Hamburg.
