Thousands welcome His Holiness in Glasgow
Glasgow, 29 May: Thousands of people, lead by the Glasgow City Council’s Lord Provost, extended a very warm welcome and applauded as His Holiness the Dalai Lama entered the podium of the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre here to give the much awaited talk on “Inner Peace, Outer Harmony.” Earlier in the day the city’s highest elected has received the Tibetan leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner at the airport after his arrival from London where he was met by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the British Foreign Secretary, Prince Charles, Opposition and Conservative Party Leader, Members of Parliament and representatives of the British and international media at the invitation of the Foreign Press Association.
Welcoming His Holiness to the city before the start of the public talk, the Lord Provost spoke about the benefit of hearing His Holiness to both the Buddhists and non-Buddhists.
“To those who are Buddhists and who have not before heard you in person, today presents a joyful and momentous occasion. To those of us present today who are not Buddhists, we too very much look forward to your talk for we know that it will provide to us a unique opportunity to listen to the teachings of one who is rightly regarded as one of the greatest role models and one of the most noble peace-makers of our age,” the Lord Provost said.
In her introductory remarks, the Lord Provost also referred to the welcoming mood of the city at the news of His Holiness’ visit.
“I know that I speak for each member of this nine-thousand-strong audience when I say that your
four-day visit to Glasgow has been one of the most eagerly-awaited of any religious or public figure for many years. The anticipation of your visit has been reflected in many of our newspapers and broadcast media for quite sometime,” she said.
His Holiness in his talk spoke about how we are all the same human being who want happiness and do not want suffering. He said that open-minded with a warm heard is a source of happiness whereas narrow-mindedness is a source of problems.
With regard to religious believes, His Holiness advised that it is better to follow one’s own
religious tradition.
“Changing religion is not easy,” he said. He, however, said that is would be useful to learn from other religious traditions with an open mind. His Holiness also said that materialism alone was no guarantee for a happy life as otherwise we would not see people who are billionaries and yet unhappy.
His Holiness also noted that transformation of a person can only be achieved through proper analysis and practice and not through meditation and by “closing eyes.”
The talk was followed by a question and answer session that was lively and the audience also took delight in His Holiness openess and frankness with which he answered each question. His reply to the last question with a short “I don’t know” answer brought spontaneous peals of laughter from the audience which left none to doubt the unmistakable presence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet in Glasgow.
From tomorrow, His Holiness will be giving his three days of Buddhist teachings at the same Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre. The public talk and teaching is at the invitation of Tibetan Buddhist and Bon organistions in UK. His Holiness’ visit to Glasgow will be followed by a two day visit programme in the Scottish capital Edinburgh and the old capital Dunfermline.
While in London, at literally all his meetings and engagements, His Holiness focussed on his three commitments in life. These were:
- Promotion of good human values, which as a fellow human being he wishes to pursue for the rest of his life.
- Promotion of religions harmony, which as a religious person he also wishes to pursue for the rest of his life.
- Working for the Tibet issue for which he has a moral responsibility resulting from the Tibetan
people’s faith and trust in him and which he wishes to pursue until the tibet of return to Tibet with a certain degree of genuine freedom.
A report sent by OoT, London