The Most Eagerly Awaited Visitor to Glasgow
New York, 1 June: “I have nothing to offer and no special things. I am a person who is passing through a difficult life with challenges. But through these challenges and problems, I remain quite okay and peaceful,” His Holiness the Dalai Lama told an audience of 10,000-strong in Glasgow yesterday.
Nevertheless, Glasgow’s Lord Provost described the Tibetan leader’s four-day visit to the city as “one of the most eagerly awaited of any religious or public figure for many years”.
Among the thousands who turned up to welcome His Holiness were the church leaders of Scotland, who hailed his visit as “an opportunity to promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all peoples, faiths, cultures and societies”.
“We recognize your significant role and standing in the promotion of spiritual and religious belief and practice in our contemporary world. We welcome your visit,” said the letter signed by representatives of the Church of Scotland, Methodist Church, Roman Catholic Church, Scottish Episcopal Church, United Free Church of Scotland and United Reformed Church.
The Archbishop of Glasgow, Most Rev Mario Conti, told His Holiness that just as he has learned about Christianity during his exile life so have they learned about Buddhism and Tibet, thanks to his being in exile. He said the tragedy that has befallen Tibet has given them the opportunity to learn more about Tibet and the Tibetan culture and Buddhism.
Speaking to the Guardian newspaper later in the day, His Holiness termed his visit as apolitical in nature and said he was not upset by Prime Minister Blair’s decision not to meet him.
Asked what he might have said had the British Prime Minister received him, His Holiness replied, “Nothing in particular.”
He said he had no political agenda during this visit and that therefore it made no difference whether the Prime Minister met him or not.
His Holiness said even Prime Minister Paul Martin had come under similar pressure to meet him during his visit to Canada in April and May.
But Martin cannot do miracles to effect a solution to the issue of Tibet, His Holiness said.
Incidentally, Paul Martin became the first Canadian Prime Minister to meet the Tibetan leader.
The two leaders discussed issues of human rights, after which the Canadian Prime Minister called on the people of Canada to learn from His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s advocacy of religious and ethnic tolerance.
His Holiness also told the Guardian that he was confident of being able to return to his homeland one day, citing the changes in the People’s Republic of China, which he said would have positive fallouts on Tibet.
“But if you ask when, I don’t know. Perhaps you say two years, three years, five years, ten years. I don’t know.”
His Holiness admitted that the situation looks hopeless at the moment, and that China continues to rule Tibet through repression and fear.
But if one takes a wider perspective, it is possible to discern a silver lining, he said, noting the changes in the thinking of the Chinese people, “not only people, but even leaderships”.
“Things are improving; things are changing in a positive direction. Plus, among Chinese intellectuals, among Chinese businessmen, Chinese artists, more and more are showing interest about Tibetan culture, Tibetan Buddhism. And also some Chinese think-tank, they consider my approach is very realistic and of mutual benefit, not only of benefit to Tibetans but also in the long run to the benefit to people of China as a whole,” the Guardian quoted His Holiness as having said.
Report sent by OoT, New York