Dharamshala: His Holiness the Dalai Lama offered his profound greetings on the 25th anniversary of the Forum 2000 conference held in Prague from 10 – 12 October 2021. The Forum 2000 was founded in 1996 as a joint initiative of the late Czech President Václav Havel, Japanese philanthropist Yohei Sasakawa, and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Elie Wiesel.
In the video message, His Holiness the Dalai Lama stated:
“Firstly, I want to express my greetings on the occasion of your conference. And while I am expressing my greeting to you, in my mind, I can clearly see the face of President Vaclav Havel. Such a wonderful person.
As soon as we met, there was automatically some special feeling between us. Havel is no longer with us in person, but his ideas, his commitments remain, and everyone who respected him, who loved him, has a responsibility to carry forward his ideas, and his sense of loving kindness. The world needs that.
Like many great teachers of the past, the teacher themselves must have passed away but their teaching continues. Similarly, President Havel thought about the wellbeing of the whole world. Although he is no longer with us, his ideas are still very relevant. Therefore, the people who admired him, like myself, who was his very clear, trusted friend, we have a responsibility to carry continuously his sense of loving kindness, and commitment to universal responsibility.”