By Tenzin Dharpo
DHARAMSHALA, June 14: Beginning his 19 day visit to the United States, the Tibetan leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama yesterday said that education can help pave a way forward in changing the way people of the world think and act in face of violence and hatred. The Tibetan leader was speaking at an event ‘A Peaceful Mind in a Modern World’ at the American University.
“Education can help us change our way of thinking. The generation of the 20th century to which I belong has created a lot of problems which those of you who belong to the 21st century have to solve. If we take a calm and compassionate approach I believe we can create a better, more peaceful world, but if we continue to quarrel, cheat and exploit each other, we’ll only see greater misery,” the Dalai Lama said.
The public talk was attended by Richard Gere, Chairman of the International Campaign for Tibet, House Democrat Leader Nancy Pelosi and Capital Area Tibetan Association President Jigme Gorap.
In the morning the same day, His Holiness attended an event at United States Institute of Peace where he led a silent prayer for the victims of the Orlando shootout tragedy where 49 people were killed and many other were injured by a man with an assault weapon. The president of the USIP, Nancy Lindborg who brought a delegation of youth leaders to Dharamshala from countries affected by conflict was also present at the event.
Speaking on the refugee crisis and the west helping them rehabilitate, the egalitarian Tibetan leader said, “I admire all those countries that are helping them, but simply providing shelter is not enough. The long term solution is to restore peace in the lands these people are fleeing. In the meantime their young people must be given education and training to equip them to be able to help rebuild their countries in due course.”
“Life is difficult, but coping with it is much easier if you have peace of mind. One way to achieve this is to encourage a more holistic approach to education that fosters a greater warm-heartedness based on scientific findings, common experience and common sense,” he further added.
Among the participants of the event was a young Moroccan girl, Soukaina Hamia from the Sidi Moumen Cultural Center, a large slum in Casablanca, Morocco who said, “We are all members of one human family. We are peace and love. Knowledge only becomes real when it is shared. We should build a generation that dedicates itself to peace every day, again and again.”
