Pull up your socks: His Holiness the Dalai LamaBudapest TimesWritten by ágnes Lukács       Tuesday, 28 September 2010

His Holiness the Dalai Lama (R) speaks in the Upper Hall of the parliament building in Budapest on 20 September 2010 during his meeting with representatives of the Hungarian Parliament, high-ranking officials and other invited guests/Photo Courtesy: GETTY IMAGES

Tenzin
Gyatso, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, left Hungarians with a
message of peace when he departed from Budapest last Tuesday. The
exiled Tibetan spiritual leader spent four days in Hungary teaching
about the path to inner calm and happiness. In his lectures and
discussions he also spoke about the common ground between the world’s
religions and even addressed the economic crisis, which he attributes
to human weaknesses.He received the title of honorary citizen
of Budapest from city mayor Gábor Demszky, who spoke of the impression
the spiritual leader had already made ahead of his visit to Budapest.
“For a moment a spirit of peace and cooperation, where party
affiliations and other differences play no role, prevailed in the city
hall,” Demszky said, describing the session when the council voted on
the Dalai Lama’s honorary citizenship.  On Monday the Dalai
Lama visited parliament to speak to representatives of the
Hungarian-Tibetan Circle of Friends about questions of autonomy and
life in exile. The Dalai Lama said it was understandable that there was
no official meeting with the country’s political dignitaries. “It is
not my intention to cause difficulties for the country or its
politicians,” he said, in the knowledge that politicians generally do
not want to raise the hackles of their important trade partner, China.
Accordingly the Dalai Lama also spoke with great understanding about
the quarrels between Tibet and China.Those who attended his
lectures could realise that the best advice is the simplest advice. The
Dalai Lama left Hungarians with a message of peace and his opinion on
how the country can recover from its economic misery.  “I have heard
that Hungary’s economic situation is not too good but you mustn’t give
up. Nobody has said that life is easy. You have to work hard but with
optimism. The solution won’t simply fall from the sky,” he said with a
smile. The whole country needed to join forces and work with confidence
if Hungary was to recover from its plight.Going on to speak
about the world economic crisis and its causes, he surprisingly gave an
answer as to how the crisis in general can be solved: with honesty and
a pure heart, two concepts rarely associated with the world of finance.
“Human weaknesses were essentially to blame for the financial crisis:
greed, speculation, ignorance and fear. It is necessary to operate in
the world of business too with honesty, sense and a pure heart, and
then everything will turn out well,” the Dalai Lama told the press in
parliament.  Asked whether he could help Hungarians make the
right decision in the coming local elections, the Dalai Lama said that
the “right leaders act with a pure heart and have a vision before their
eyes”. Finding out who satisfies that principle was also the
responsibility of journalists. “People try to show their best side to
the outside world but behind the facade their real face is hidden. You
are media representatives, so you should be like elephants with huge
trunks, with which you can smell politicians, businesspeople and other
personalities equally well from the front and behind. And if you catch
wind of something, then you most report on it honestly and objectively.”