By EMILY YEARWOOD-LEE
VANCOUVER, April 18 – Awed silence gave way to laughter Sunday as the Dalai Lama spoke urged his audience of 13,000 to show compassion to others.
The exiled spiritual leader of Tibet, who arrived in Vancouver on Saturday, elicited giggles as he tested the cushion of his ornate throne before being seated, then later donned an orange visor.
The 68-year-old Tibetan Buddhist monk appeared relaxed before his expectant listeners, which included devout followers and the curious.
Before speaking on the importance of cultivating “a good heart,” the Dalai Lama said he realized there were non-Buddhists at the meeting and that it might be “better and safer to keep one’s own tradition.”
Organizers of the Dalai Lama’s spiritual teaching, to be followed by a public talk later in the day introduced by South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, said they expected many of those in the audience to have had little prior exposure to Buddhism.
Tickets for both 13,000-seat events Sunday were sold out.
“I think this particular area,” the Dalai Lama said, referring to Vancouver, “multi-cultural, multi-religion, to them I think it is useful to know about other traditions.”
He then launched into an explanation of basic Buddhist values, including the importance of compassion and recognizing the temporary nature of common human desires.
“What is most important is to ensure in our day-to-day life that we have a resolve not to . . . embrace an ill will or harmful intent but rather to nurture the good heart and compassion,” he said in Tibetan through a translator.
The monk, dressed in his traditional red and yellow robes, sat cross-legged on a three-metre-high throne on a stage draped with carpets and lined with white flowers.
He was later whisked out of the Pacific Coliseum to be greeted privately by B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell at a luncheon also attended by fellow Nobel Peace Prize winners Tutu and Shirin Abadi.
Tutu and the Dalai Lama embraced when they saw each other.
The premier’s handlers have emphasized the spiritual nature of Campbell’s meeting with the monk, taking a similar line to Prime Minister Paul Martin who will greet the Dalai Lama in Ottawa later this week.
Thousands of people crowded the sidewalks and streets around the Pacific Coliseum two hours before the Dalai Lama began the spiritual teaching.
The crowd was triple the size that Teoni Spathelfer said she saw the last the Dalai Lama visited Vancouver in 1993.
People are drawn out by his inclusive message, said Spathelfer, who travelled from the B.C. Sunshine Coast to hear his teaching with her teenage daughter.
“I think his role is just to remind us about what’s important and our common humanity,” she said.
She acknowledged some might be attending because of a sense of hype attached to the Dalai Lama’s visit.
“That could happen in any area. If the Pope came, there would be many more people and not everybody knows what it is to be Catholic,” she said.
“I don’t think it’s necessary to know all the fine details of being a Buddhist because the Dalai Lama doesn’t insist I come here as a Buddhist.”
Filing out after the teaching, one woman struggled to hold back tears.
“He reminds me sometimes we know something, but we need to be reminded to grow stronger,” said Rinchen Wang-Mo, who moved to Vancouver from Taiwan and has heard the monk speak previously.
“The first time I saw the Dalai Lama, I just (wanted) to cry because the love is so strong.”
China has objected to Martin meeting the monk , saying the Dalai Lama also has a political role and is working to separate Tibet from China.
But the Dalai Lama insists he wants only autonomy so Tibetans can preserve their language, religion and culture.
The Dalai Lama told reporters on Saturday that he is not concerned by the politicians’ preference to keep their discussions on a religious level.
The Vancouver visit will also include a Monday roundtable discussion with Tutu and Ebadi. Later, the Dalai Lama will attend a musical tribute hosted by actress Goldie Hawn.
The majority of the monk’s time in Canada will be spent in Toronto, where he will lead followers and others in the Kalachakra ritual, a ceremony that lasts several days and is among the most important in the Tibetan Buddhist faith.
It will be the first time the ritual, which involves visualization and purification exercises, as well as the construction of an elaborate mandala symbol from sand, has been performed in Canada.
