Budapest Confers Honorary Citizenship to His Holiness the Dalai Lama[Monday, 20 September 2010, 8:51 a.m.]

Mayor Gabor Demsky of Budapest conferring Honorary Citizenship to His Holiness the Dalai Lama at City Hall on 18 September 2010 and other images of the second day of the Budapest visit.

Budapest, Hungary: Today
Mayor Gabor Demsky of Budapest conferred Honorary Citizenship to His
Holiness the Dalai Lama at a ceremony held in the City Hall.The
Honorary Citizenship award citation declared “The title of ‘Honorary
Citizen of Budapest’ be conferred upon Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness the
14th Dalai Lama, for preserving cultural and spiritual traditions as
the leader of the people of Tibet, and for his work for peace and
non-violence.” In His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s acceptance
address, His Holiness said that he was honored to receive the Honorary
Citizenship Award. He said that there is a special significance in
receiving this award because of Alexander Csoma de Korös, a Hungarian
scholar and a pioneer of Tibetology who authored and published the
first Tibetan-English dictionary.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama and dignitaries during the ceremony to confer Honourary Citizenship att Budapest City Hall on 18 September 2010/Photo: Gati Kornel

Today
His Holiness also gave teachings to over 11,000 people at the Budapest
Sport Arena. Another 8,000 people from 74 countries watched His
Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teaching on Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism
on the internet.In the morning His Holiness gave a detail
teaching on the foundation of Tibetan Buddhism. In the afternoon, he
answered questions from the audience. In response to a
question, His Holiness said that the transformation of our destructive
emotions is very important. For the last 2,000 years, there has been no
change in our emotions. Therefore, ancient teachings are still relevant
and for thousands of years to come they will remain relevant because of
the lack of change in human emotion. The 7 billion human beings are the
same and have attachments, anger, greed, love, kindness and all need
happiness.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama said that the essence of Buddhism is infinite altruism. After the first day teaching, His Holiness the Dalai Lama left for the Budapest City Hall where Mayor Mr. Gabor Demsky welcomed His Holiness the Dalai Lama.