DHARAMSHALA: His Holiness the Dalai Lama today began a four-day teaching on Chapter II of Nagarjuna’s The Precious Garland of the Middle Way (uma rinchen trengwa) at the request of a group from Asia including Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam at the Tsuglagkhang. Over 5000 devotees from 57 countries had come to attend the teaching, of which 1200 were Buddhist monks and nuns. The remaining include devotees from Mainland China, India and local Tibetans along with 1500 from south east Asian countries of Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia.

The teaching began with a recitation of Sherab Nyingpo or Heart Sutra in different languages.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama greeted all the devotees who came from different part of the world. Emphasising the importance of Moral Ethics, His Holiness said: “Years of discussions with many scholars and educationist friends have led to the decision of coming up with a curriculum on moral ethics without touching any religious aspect.” His Holiness even mentioned a few universities in western countries that have started a curriculum on it and suggested the practice of compassion and sense of oneness of humanity.

His Holiness added that friendship is build on trust, and that trust can only be gained through love and compassion in the absence of pride, jealousy and malicious thoughts. “We should all keep our identity and religion aside and consider ourselves humans first. At the fundamental level, we all seven billion human beings are the same wishing for a happy life,” he said.

“It is matter of great sadness and loss if religion becomes a tool of these negative afflictions,” His Holiness noted.

The teachings will continue for the next three days culminating in a long life empowerment on the final day of the teaching on 1 September 2016.