His Holiness Thanks People of Himalayan Region For Support[Saturday, 15 January 2010, 5:11 p.m.]

DHARAMSHALA:
His Holiness the Dalai Lama expressed his gratitude to the people of
the Himalayan region for their efforts in preserving Tibet’s cultural
heritage, which he said is facing destruction under the Chinese
government’s wrong policy, on Thursday, 13 January 2010 in Varanasi,
India.His Holiness was speaking to an exclusive gathering of
over 7,000 Buddhist devotees from the Himalyan regions of Ladakh,
Bhutan, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Nepal, Kalimpong,
Darjeeling, and Sikkim.His Holiness described genuine autonomy
as the solution to the survival of Tibet. “The issue of Tibet is not
only political, but also related with Buddhism. The latter cannot exist
unless Tibet gets freedom on genuine autonomy. The Chinese government
last year tried to bring about an education policy to teach all
subjects in Chinese, thereby making Tibetan language ineffective. The
Tibetan culture is rooted in its language and to weaken the source of
Tibet’s religion and culture is a long-term malicious intention.”His
Holiness commended the growing number of students from India’s
Himalayan region such as Ladakh, Kinnaur, Tawang and others joining
Tibetan monasteries in India to study Buddhism. His Holiness
recounted how in earlier times people of the Himalayan regions faced
great difficulties to go to faraway Tibet for study.  “It is good for
them that Tibetans are in exile, as they get easy access to many
Tibetan Buddhist learning centres in India,” he said.His
Holiness emphasised the importance of developing inner values along the
material progress. “Even scientists are showing keen interest on moral
ethics as the need of today’s world,” he said.His Holiness told the devotees to study Buddha’s teachings to bring positive changes within themselves. He also told them follow and preserve one’s own ancestral Buddhist religion.

Devotees attending His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teaching at Sarnath. Photo / Tenzin Choejor /OHHDL