Human Approaches to World Peace [Saturday, 23 October 2010, 11:15 a.m.]

Rogers Centre, venue for His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s public talk “Human Approaches to World Peace” on 22 October 2010/Photo: Sonam Zokang

Toronto, Ontaria:
His Holiness the Dalai Lama on Friday addressed thousands of people at
Rogers Centre in Toronto, on issues ranging from role of youth and
human inner values to bring a peaceful, compassionate and happy world.His
Holiness was introduced to the public by Craig Kielburger, founder of
Free The Children, an organisation dedicated towards the promotion of
rights of the child.As His Holiness proceeded on the stage and
started to look at the people, as is his usual practice, he recognized
retired Canadian Ambassador James George, who was sitting in the front
and called him “a long time friend.” His Holiness had known Ambassador
George when he served as the High Commissioner to India.His
Holiness began by talking about the oneness of humanity at the
fundamental level.  He said there was too much emphasis on the
secondary level forgetting that the seven billion human beings are the
same mentally, emotionally and physically.  Everyone wants a happy
life, he said.  He said the religious faiths are also supposed to bring
a more happy life. He said also today’s reality is that global
economy and others have shown that everything is interdependent. The
entire world has become one small entity, he said.His Holiness
said many people in the audience must be young and said that the 21st
century belongs to the younger generation. He said the younger
generation has the main responsibility to bring a peaceful,
compassionate and happy world.  In order to make a more peaceful world,
there needs to be a vision, out of past experience. His
Holiness said his generation witnessed a major portion of the 20th
century, including the beginning of the Second World War when nuclear
weapon was used, as well as other wars like Korean War and Vietnam
War.  The beginning of 21st century was not a healthy one with wars
like those in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said these problems are due to
negligence in certain fields in the past century and due to the
excessive use of force. His Holiness said the 20th century
people relied too much on external values neglecting the inner values. 
Therefore, he said in today’s affluent society there was too much
mental stress.His Holiness said drawing from these experience,
we should create a new vision on how to build a happy life in this
century.  He said, therefore, he was always talking about the
importance of warm heartedness, which is the basis of all moral ethics
and all major religious traditions.  He said all religious traditions
carried the same practice of compassion, love, forgiveness,
contentment, etc., which come about on account of warm heartedness.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Mr. Jason Kenney, Canada’s Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism in Toronto on 22 October 2010. Photo/Sonam Zoksang

His
Holiness said the time has come to look more inward and less on
external matters. He then talked about the development in human belief
saying in the ancient time people solely prayed and hoped for results.
He said sometimes the prayers took a long time to fulfill and sometimes
they even failed. His Holiness then talked about the development of
science and technology in the past two centuries.  During this period,
His Holiness said people felt all theirs aspirations were being
fulfilled by science.  However, in the latter part of the 20th century
people began to feel the limitations of material values or external
values. He talked about billionaires who are rich but still very
unhappy. Here, His Holiness related his interaction with a rich person
who opened up to him in a conversation about his mental unhappiness.
His Holiness said he was able to change after His Holiness also began
sharing some of his own challenges to this person.Saying that
money alone was not the answer, His Holiness talked about the gap
between the rich and the poor globally, including in Canada.His
Holiness then talked about more scientists beginning to feel that peace
of mind and a calm mind were very essential for a healthy body. He said
they began to realize that a change in the plasticity of the brain
could be engendered through thetraining of the mind. His Holiness
talked about his meetings with scientists recently and their finding
about the value of inner mind.His Holiness said in order to
achieve a peaceful world and a happy world, there is the need to
promote a concept of dialogue. He said the spirit of dialogue should be
encouraged in the school system from the Kindergarten to the
university. His Holiness said the opposite of peace is
non-violence, which is a man-made development. Therefore, he said peace
can also be brought about by man.  His Holiness said a healthy mental
attitude was a key factor.  Considering others as part of the human
society can bring about trust, and genuine friendship. His
Holiness said basically human beings are gentle by nature. He said if
we look at the physical attributes human beings do not have fangs or
claws like those violent animals such as tiger.His Holiness
said some of the people known to him are thinking of ways to
incorporate the promotion of moral ethics into the school education
system. He said these moral ethics are secular ethics and explained
that by secularism it means respect of all religions and not
anti-religion.His Holiness said human inner values can be
promoted through three ways. First, those who are theistic, they would
believe in the supreme God the creator and that all beings are his
creature and need love. At another level, those believers who are not
theistic like Buddhists and Jains, they believe in the law of causality
and through that way they could promote inner values.  The third way is
to meet the need of the many people who do not identify themselves as
believers but still desire a happy life. His Holiness said therefore
there was the need of a secular way to promote inner values.During
the Question & Answer, His Holiness was asked about the role of
female power and whether there could be a female reincarnation of the
Dalai Lama.  His Holiness explained at length about how women have been
shown to be better inclined for compassion and caring. He said the time
has come to pay more attention to compassion and the female should take
more active role in this. His Holiness said that females have also
turned out to be better educators. In terms of a female Dalai Lama, His
Holiness said he was first asked this question 30 years back by a
journalist in Paris.  He said he had told the journalist that the very
purpose of the reincarnation is to serve the Buddha Dharma. If a female
reincarnation can be more effective and useful to serve that purpose he
said then a female Dalai Lama will be possible. His Holiness said that
Tibet did have the tradition of high reincarnated masters who were
female.He said as early as 1969 he had made it clear that it
was up to the Tibetan people whether the Dalai Lama institution needs
to continue or not. He added that if the Tibetan people and other
concerned people feel that the institution has served its purpose then
he will be the last Dalai Lama. His Holiness joked that in such a
situation, he feels he may not have been the best Dalai Lama but he
certainly was not the worst Dalai Lama.In answer to another
question of the source of his calmness in the face of tremendous
challenges, His Holiness said that it was basically because of the
power of truth, power of sincerity and power of transparency.In
terms of the Tibetan struggle, His Holiness said since 2001 Tibetans
already have an elected leadership and that his position was that of
semi-retirement. He said he told a Tibetan gathering in South India
that he also was a human being and had human rights and so the right to
retire, too. Prior to the talk, His Holiness met with Mr. Jason Kenney, Canada’s Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism. His Holiness will inaugurate the Tibetan Canadian Cultural Centre on Saturday, 23 October.(Report filed by Bhuchung K Tsering)