DHARAMSHALA, January 6: After ten days’ teaching on the 18 Great Stages of the Path (Lam Rim) commentaries at Sera Monastery in south Indian state of Karnataka, the Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama on Sunday attended the All India Principal’s Conference of the Heads of Anglo-Indian Schools in India at Bishop Cotton School, Bangalore.
Addressing the gathering, His Holiness said that only education can transform humanity and create a more compassionate world. “It seems to me that modern education is largely materialistic and fosters material values. We develop smart brains through such education, but we also need to develop a good heart so that our education doesn’t become too self- centered.”
The 78-year-old Nobel Peace laureate said that many of the problems world faces today are created by humans themselves, and that the sense of ‘them’ and ‘us’ has led to violence and deception.
He also noted that corruption is the cancer of the modern world. It needs to be tackled, not neglected or overlooked. “For the good of society we have to educate people about basic inner values. This is a country with a long tradition of non-violence. What we have to understand is that corruption is a form of violence.”
Reiterating his admiration for his host country, the Tibetan leader said, “Because this is a multi-religious society, it has a secular constitution which expresses respect for all faiths and none, without bias. Over the last thousand years all the major religious traditions have flourished in this country, living peacefully side by side. ”
His Holiness said, “we want our days to be happy and we’d even prefer to have happy dreams. What’s more we have a right to achieve such happiness. In order to do so, I believe we need to develop a clearer sense of the oneness of humanity; what we have in common.”
His Holiness will give the Presidential address on Tuesday at a program with Mouna Sadhu Sathyanandu Maharaj at Codissa Trade Fair in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. The Tibetan leader will also unveil a 7 feet 9 inches tall “Makrana” white marble statue of Swami Vivekananda in Coimbatore. His Holiness is an admirer of Vivekananda. “He had great foresight and I feel I am a follower, trying to implement his dream of creating inter-religious harmony in the world,” His Holiness said in the past.
