His Holiness had an indepth interview with Katrin Moser, a journalist in her late teens. He told Moser that he enjoyed long retreats once in a while, but that as a Buddhist monk, his main purpose in life is to be of benefit to other people. He feels that it is his responsibility to help people and the best way to do so is to meet them.
He said that in China, now that it is economically more advanced, more and more people are becoming interested in spirituality. About 5 million Chinese become Christians annually, according to some sources. Many Chinese are also more acquainted with Buddhism, particularly Tibetan Buddhism. They are now going in droves to Lhasa to undertake religious pilgrimage.
After the interview, Minister-President Roland Koch met His Holiness at the hotel and the two walked. The two took a walk to the Hessian Parliament. They were mobbed by scores of journalists and TV broadcasters and their progress through the enormous crowd was slow.
At the front entrance of the Parliament, His Holiness was greeted personally by Mr. Norbert Kartmann, the speaker of the Parliament. All the members of the parliament as well as the staff were on hand to welcome Him. Then His Holiness left the Parliament by motorcade and an advance guard of motorcycles to go to the Kurhaus to receive the Peace Prize Award of the Hessian Parliament. It was standing room only in the hall. The first speaker to welcome HH was Norbert Kartmann followed by Karl Starzacher, Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Peace Prize. Finally Roland Koch spoke glowingly of His Holiness´ achievement in the world, and in particular, his untiring effort to promote world peace and religious harmony. It was a speech straight from the heart and a very moving one. He said that His Holiness´approach to resolving problems through dialogue and non-violent means is a test case for the international community. And that it was imperative that the International community has moral responsibility to support the Tibetan aspiration for genuine autonomy.
His Holiness thanked the organisers for the award and the kind words of the main speakers. His Holiness repeated his three commitments.
At the end of the ceremony, His Holiness visited the Town Hall of the Hessian capital, Wiesbaden. As usual the large hall was packed with admirers. HH was presented a special pen by the acting Mayor, Dr Helmut-Georg Muller. Dr Muller told HH that he should use the pen for a very special occasion: when at last Tibet achieved genuine autonomy from the Chinese, he should use this pen to sign the agreement.
