One of the highlights of my winter was our visit to the Dalai Lama. I had bought two tickets upfront when I heard about him coming in Otago and thereafter waited and organised our trip to meeting him.
It was great! Here we are, in the Dunedin townhall, waiting for HIM.
When HE arrived and after a long round of applause, what stroke me first is that I could not understand HIM. His English is appalling and it took me a while to understand HE repeats and repeats until everyone understands. And after a while, I became a bit more used to his accent and understood more and more. The main words I understood were love, forgiveness, compassion, and also peace, patience, happiness…
I did not want to take notes and instead wanted to infuse HIS saying. Therefore, just after HIS talk, I was unable to express what HE’d said. All I knew was:
When HE laughs, everybody laughs.
In Sydney during the same tour…
HIS meekness is most amazing!
Interestingly, over the next few days, I realized what HE had said about religion, about politics, about school, about living today, about China,…
Beyond religion: Buddhism is not a religion anyway, just a spiritual path, a growing up practice. Religions generally support love and understanding. When they start to support hatred and divisions, when they serve other purposes than spirituality, then people need to be wary of them.
About politics: Same as religion! If politics do not support the people, then, be wary of them… Governments need to be inclusive, not divisive.
About school: We prepare tomorrow’s adults. If young people are taught to meditate, the world will be different.
About China in Tibet: Sometimes in the past, Tibet was autonomous. Sometimes, one area is dominated by such and such. Now Tibet is under Chinese regime. This may change over time. What is important, anywhere and anytime, is not who rules the country but how human rights are applied, including freedom of religion. No use to battle for a political freedom but imperative to fight for human rights.
Last but not least, we need to learn to meditate if we have not already. We will be better. People around us will be better; the world will be better…
Regenerative Livestyle Blog 