By Phuntsok Yangchen
DHARAMSHALA, May 27: The Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama today told Tibetan students and younger generation to preserve and promote the rich cultural heritage of Tibet. The 80 year old Tibetan spiritual leader was speaking at the start of a three-day teaching on ‘the Buddhist presentation of Psychology and the mind’ for Tibetan students at Upper Tibetan Children’s Village School here.
“You the younger generation of Tibetans here are the ones upon whose shoulder falls the responsibility to preserve and promote our culture and tradition. So inside Tibet, although they wish to do this they do not have freedom. But we in exile have freedom and therefore using this freedom, we should actually cherish the freedom to use the opportunity for the preservation of our culture,” said His Holiness. “So while living in this free country, you have the freedom to do any kind of good analysis and investigation into the tradition. Therefore, this generation is very important generation because when it comes to preserving Tibetan culture and tradition, it has to go on from generation to generation.”
Around five thousand people including three thousand Tibetan school and college students attended the annual teachings especially aimed for the youth since nine years. This was the largest gathering of people for the teachings for youth.
He further said that the younger generation has great responsibility with regard to the Buddhist tradition as a whole, and also with regard to Tibet’s future. “You need the intelligence so the more your intelligence and wisdom increases; you will be able to do more for others. Therefore wherever you go in the future, you should be able to become a Tibetan representative in those areas.”
The Tibetan leader also said that the dialectical debate is a very good tool to preserve and promote the teaching of the Buddha. He further added that just by carrying a mala or rosary in your hands and saying some mantras will not help preserve the profound teaching of the Buddha. “This will not happen by having a grand monastery and playing musical instruments like drums and cymbals or having a good guest house near the monastery.
The Tibetan leader said laypeople should also study and understand the great depth of knowledge that Buddhist philosophy has to offer. He said that despite his old age and frequent exhaustion he makes it a point to go through various texts. “Within Buddhism, we find very detailed information on psychology as well as philosophy. In the Nalanda tradition, in the writings of the Nalanda masters, we have many writings which actually talks about the idea or concept of Quantum Physics, which is very popular today.”
He also noted that it was Buddhist culture that held together all the people of Kham, Amdo and U-Tsang when Tibet was politically fragmented. “Since 25, I lost my country, I fled my country and since 16, I lost my personal freedom. So I lived my life in such circumstances, so when I think about problems and difficulties inside Tibet, people have so much faith and trust in me. But what can a single person do?”
He said that the past generations of Tibetans had made mistakes or were laid back a bit but that there is no point repenting on it.
His Holiness expressed his sadness over killings taking place across the world in the name of religion. “The very purpose of religion is to bring happiness and spread love and compassion. But we see so many bloodshed in the name of religion.” The Tibetan leader also condemned the killings of Rohingya Muslims by Buddhists in Burma, and also expressed his sympathy for the thousands of people caught in the crossfire of hatred in the name of religion.
His Holiness also expressed his sadness over the death and destruction to life and property caused by recent spate of earthquakes in Nepal. He said deaths and destruction caused by natural disasters are inevitable but man made disasters are not.
Since thousands of youth are in attendance, a talk on the Middle Way Approach by Ngaba Tsegyam, Secretary (Chinese) of the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama followed in the afternoon.
The Tibetan Children’s Village family will be offering a Long Life Prayer (Tenshug) to His Holiness the Dalai Lama on Friday. His Holiness will confer the Avalokiteshvara Empowerment (Chenrezig ki Wang) after the Tenshug ceremony.
