dalailama.com

Perth, Western Australia, Australia, 14 June 2015 – It was a beautiful, clear day as His Holiness the Dalai Lama set out for the airport at Uluru to fly to Perth. Many Tibetans who had come especially to join him here were present to see him off.

Shortly after takeoff the plane banked to reveal brilliantly clear views of the Uluru rock formation in the early morning light. Arriving in Perth nearly three hours later, he drove directly to his hotel on the edge of the Swan River.

After lunch His Holiness drove to the Perth Arena where he was to speak to a capacity audience of 4000. Rick Ardon, a news presenter on Seven News, invited members of the Whadjuk people to perform a welcoming dance. Suzie Mather, a Perth girl and actress, then introduced His Holiness as he came on stage. The audience were loud and warm in their greetings.

“Brothers and sisters,” he began, “it’s a great honour for me to have this opportunity to share some of my experiences with you. When I speak in public I always think of myself as just another human being like you. And it’s on that basis that what I have to say might have some meaning for you. The 7 billion human beings alive today are mentally, physically and emotionally the same. I also face situations that have the potential to disturb the mind, but when that disturbance is about to arise, I can use another part of the mind to pacify it. We all have similar brains and we all have the potential to do this.

“We all want to be happy and avoid suffering, and we all have a right to be happy. That’s why I say we are all the same.”

“Above all we need peace of mind. When the doctor advises us to relax, she means be calm, pacify your agitated mind, let go of stress. There must be supermarkets here in Perth, but do any of them sell peace of mind? If I were to go out and shout that I want to buy some peace of mind people would think I was crazy. The key to peace of mind is within and yet we always look for happiness and satisfaction outside ourselves.

“To create a happier humanity we have to pay more attention to our inner values, whether we are religious or not. Because our existing education systems are oriented towards materialism, we have to find ways to incorporate more humane values, greater concern for others, into our education systems. The simple basis of such inner values is warm-heartedness and common sense. Think about it and if it seems useful, follow it up.“

In answering questions from the audience His Holiness drew a distinction between ethics and religious tradition, suggesting that ethics is essentially the common message of love and that it is possible to educated people in ethics whether or not they have any particular faith. This, he said, is why we need secular ethics, values based on an unbiased respect for all religions, as observed for centuries in India’s multi-religious society. This is not about some future life in heaven or a pure land, but about this life, here and now.

“Inner peace. Peace that comes from within. Peace can be cultivated through training, but it must start on the level of the individual. It won’t begin with governments or institutions like the UN. When you find yourselves relaxing in the warm sun, instead of gossiping, talk to each other about inner peace. Because peace in the world depends on peace in the individual, each of us has to make the attempt to find it.

“This is the last public talk of this visit. Tomorrow I’ll be leaving, but your problems will remain here with you. In trying to solve them, seek the advice of your brain and your heart. That’s what I do.”

Rob Keldoulis, Chairman of the Board of the organizers of this tour, Dalai Lama in Australia (DLIA) stepped forward with a brief report. As he began to explain that he takes no fees for teaching, His Holiness intervened, saying:

“Many years ago I came across the story of a lama called Tseley Rangdol. He made three pledges in relation to his teaching: not to ride horses from place to place, to eat only vegetarian food and not to take any payment. This left a strong impact on my mind. I decided I too would take no payment for teaching.”

Keldoulis continued to summarize His Holiness’s activities during this tour, noting that he had spoken to 20,000 people in the course of 13 events over 12 days. He stated that a surplus of $100,000 raised primarily from ticket sales would be donated to charitable causes. He announced that accounts would be made available on the DLIA website and submitted to the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.