His Holiness the Dalai Lama Honoured with Int’l Freedom Conductor Award [Thursday, 21 October 2010, 9:53 a.m.]

Reverend Damon Lynch, Jr. presents His Holiness the Dalai Lama with the International Freedom Conductor Award in Cincinnati, Ohio, US, on 20 October 2010/Photo:OHHDL

Cincinnati, Ohio:
The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati
presented His Holiness the Dalai Lama with its International Freedom
Conductor Award on Wednesday (20 October). The citation said:
“H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama, whose leadership of the non-violent struggle
for the liberation of Tibet reflects the spirit and courageous actions
of the conductors on the historic underground railroad.”  This is a
reference to the “conductors,” people who helped escaping slaves reach
freedom in the years before the Civil War in the United States.His
Holiness was received at the National Underground Railroad Freedom
Center by its President & Chief Executive Officer, Mr Donald W
Murphy.  President Murphy introduced His Holiness to Ms Gwen Ifill, 
PBS television newscaster and author, and other guests.  His Holiness
was then given a tour of the exhibition in the Center.The
National Underground Railroad Freedom Center tells “the story of the
struggle for freedom in the United States through exhibits and
programmes that focus on America’s battle to rid itself of the ugly
scourge of slavery and treat all its citizens with respect and
dignity.” It also puts the spotlight on the different forms of ongoing
abuses and exploitations throughout the world.In the afternoon,
His Holiness went to the Duke Energy Convention Center where a special
luncheon programme was organised to honour him with the National
Underground Railroad Freedom Center’s with its International Freedom
Conductor Award. The function was attended by Congresswoman
Jean Schmidt and Congressman Steve Driehaus of the United States House
of Representatives and several guests.

The International Freedom Conductor Award presented by the National Underground Freedom Center to His Holiness the Dalai Lama on 20 October 2010/Photo:OHHDL

Reverend
Damon Lynch, Jr., the Pastor of New Jerusalem Baptist Church, co-chair
of the Board of Directors of the National Underground Railroad Freedom
Center presented the International Freedom Conductor Award to His
Holiness. Rev. Lynch Jr., also informed the gathering that the Award
comes with a $25,000 prize, and His Holiness had donated it back to the
Center.Addressing the people briefly before sitting down for a
dialogue with journalist Gwen Ifill, His Holiness expressed his deep
appreciation for the award. His Holiness said he specifically
appreciated this award as it came from an organisation that was totally
dedicated to the wellbeing of others, particularly helpless people. He
said when he received the invitation from the Center he felt great
honour and added that he was touched after seeing the Center’s
exhibition on slavery and human exploitation, including sexual
exploitation, around the world.He said he always consider
himself just one human being out of the seven billion people on this
planet. He said that each individual’s happiness depends on the rest of
the humanity and so for one’s own selfish reason, one should co-operate
with others.  His Holiness called for genuine co-operation that is
based on trust and friendship.  He said trust cannot be bought through
money, power or force.  Only through the showing of genuine concern for
others’ wellbeing and respecting others’ rights brings about trust. Talking
about his commitment to promote human values, His Holiness said force,
bullying, cheating, exploitations destroy such basic values. Thereafter, Ms Ifill posed some questions, including a few from the audience to His Holiness.To
a question on his definition of freedom, His Holiness said that freedom
means human thinking, human activities, verbal and physical actions,
which are essentially positive and which do not harm others. His
Holiness was next asked, “You have been in exile for more than 50 years
are you a free man?”  To this, His Holiness said that he felt mentally
free.  He said since he came to India, he had the name of refugee and
was stateless, which may seem bad, but in reality he had a new freedom,
both mental freedom and physical freedom. “So I am a free man,” he said.Asked
for his views on China’s reaction to Liu Xiaobo being awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize, His Holiness said for the last few decades he had always
expressed the Chinese people’s right to seek more openness, more
justice and less corruption, including relating in the Tiananmen
events. He said he always supported them, some times with moral support
and in other cases expressing openly.Regarding Liu Xiaobo, His
Holiness said when Liu came out with the Charter 08, he was in Poland.
Upon learning of the Charter from the media, His Holiness said he
expressed support immediately.  Therefore, when the Nobel Committee
announced the peace prize for Liu this time, His Holiness said it was
logical for him to be overjoyed and happy.  He said that this award is
not just to one individual, but along with Liu’s name there were
thousands of Chinese intellectuals and ordinary people who were really
carrying on the struggle for freedom. His Holiness said these are not
necessarily against the Chinese Party authorities but that they really
wanted more openness, more transparency and freedom. He said these were
normal aspirations.  He added that sooner or later the People’s
Republic of China will have to go along the world trend, i.e. freedom
and democracy.Asked whether such awards to Liu harms the
Tibetan cause because they make the government of China defensive, His
Holiness responded that in general the Tibetan problem is very much
related to the situation in mainland China. He said closed society with
distorted information and with heavy censorship poses lots of obstacles
for China itself.  Once China experiences more openness then the
Tibetan issue can be easily resolved. He said we are not anti-Chinese
and added that politically, we are not seeking separation from China.His
Holiness said the 1.3 billion Chinese people have every right to know
the reality adding that the 1.3 billion Chinese people also have the
ability to judge what is right and what is wrong.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama tours the National Underground Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, on 20 October 2010/Photo; OHHDL

When
asked on his views on the separation of church and state, His Holiness
said that he always had the view that religious institutions and
secular institutions should be separate.  His Holiness then explained
the historical development of the institution of the Dalai Lama. He
said after coming to India, after 1959, within one year work on
democratisation of the Tibetan society was started. He said since 2001
there has been elected political leadership and since then the
tradition of the Dalai Lama being both the spiritual and temporal
leadership has ended.  His Holiness talked about his semi-retirement
and said that he was looking forward to complete retirement. His
Holiness also talked about his two commitments of promoting human
values and promoting religious harmony, to come closer on the basis of
mutual awareness, mutual respect and mutual admiration.  He said in the
last few decades he had made some contribution towards this. He said as
a result some of his Christian friends call him a good Christian. His
Holiness joked that, however, his close friend Archbishop Tutu teases
him saying he is so nice and wonderful person, and yet unfortunately
not Christian.His Holiness said he will be committed to these two objectives until his death.Asked
for advice to resolve problems in the American society, His Holiness
said he frankly did not know and that obviously the answer should come
from the Americans themselves.  He, however, said America is
historically a champion of democracy, freedom, and liberty. He said
there is rule of law and freedom of expression. He said he was sure
that no matter what difficulties Americans had the potential to work
out a solution. He said it was important to maintain enthusiasm and
self confidence.His Holiness said the United States had a
special responsibility of leading the free world. He said if such a
nation crumble without knowing how to handle the situation, it will be
a discouragement. His Holiness expressed his appreciation for
the work of the Center and opined that just as there was a United
Nations Charter on human rights there could be one on slavery. He
thought the Center could also think of expanding its scope of work in
other countries and become international and making its work more
effective. He also suggested looking into micro financing as a way to
rehabilitate the victims of exploitations that the Center focuses.Asked
about sources of his strength, he said the trust that the Tibetan
people has in him has been a strong motivating factor.  Then, he said
that as a Buddhist being honest and sticking to truth have also been
forces of strength for him.

The National Underground Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, venue for the International Freedom Conductor Award ceremony with His Holiness the Dalai Lama on 20 October 2010/Photo: OHHDL

His
Holiness talked about his dislike of formality and said here that he
became fond of former President George W. Bush saying that they became
close friend because he was very nice as a human being. His Holiness
said that he was not saying this in terms of policies.His
Holiness suggested that the economic problems in the United States were
something created by human being and so human beings also have the
ability to overcome them. This is logical, he said, and so there is no
reason to feel disheartened. Previous recipients of the award
include Rosa Parks, South African Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu,
Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush, civil rights activist
Dorothy Height and the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human
Rights.Mr Don Murphy, the Center’s President. “The Dalai Lama’s
tireless efforts on behalf of the people of Tibet – and his lifelong
advocacy or freedom and peace for all people – are in the finest
traditions of those abolitionists who fought for the eradication of
slavery in the 18th and 19th centuries.”His Holiness then left
for the nearby town of Oxford where he will participate in programmes
at Miami University on 21 October. He will give a public talk on
“Ethics in a Modern World” and also receive an honourary degree.On
account of overwhelming interest and a huge number of demand for seats
to these programmes and since everyone could not be accommodated, Miami
university has set up remote viewing locations on large viewing screens
at its campus in Oxford as well as on the Hamilton campus and on the
Middletown campus.(Report filed by Bhuchung K Tsering)