Los Angeles, February 27: The Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama who is currently on a three week US tour on Thursday met here with Tibetans living in Southern California. The Tibetan leader said modern education is important for upbringing of a child. “However, education is not worthwhile if it is not accompanied by virtuous and compassionate mind,” said His Holiness.
The 1989 Nobel Peace Prize winner told the Tibetans that they must never forget their Tibetan roots wherever they live and whatever job they take up. The Tibetans in Tibet are so determined to preserve the Tibetan language and culture, and that they have demonstrated the extent to which they could go in doing so, said His Holiness. “Here in exile, younger generations are getting older, and new generations are coming up. But the sense of being a Tibetan must never be lost in this transition.”
His Holiness said that the Tibetans living in free world must try to be able to represent the aspirations of the Tibetans living under Chinese occupation and be a voice for them who are suppressed.
The Tibetan leader said parents should encourage their children to speak Tibetan at homes in order to preserve Tibetan language. He said that though the Tibetan language has not been of much help in learning modern academic subjects it does however have a very important contribution in imparting the great teachings of Tibetan Buddhism.
His Holiness said the great Buddhist canyons of Kagyur and Tengyur should not necessarily be looked at as strictly religious texts but that they provide in-depth understanding of psychology and the study of human mind. The Tibetan leader said the ancient Buddhist texts are still relevant and helpful in today’s world. He said that many people in the west including neuroscientists are showing interest in Tibetan Buddhism for its relevance to modern science. “These great texts are not in English or any alien language but in Tibetan. So you must pay attention to them, not as some religious subject but as any other branch of study.”
On his devolution of power two years back, His Holiness said he quit not because he was discouraged or shirking away from responsibility but because there was a need for the Tibetan polity to be free from one-man rule and for a governance based on principles of democracy.
His Holiness will be in Minnesota on March 1 at the 26th annual Nobel Peace Prize Forum organized by the Nobel Peace Prize Forum and Augsburg College in St Paul. He will be taking part in the celebrations of the Tibetan New Year on March 2, his first Tibetan New Year outside his adopted home India since coming into exile in 1959.
Namgyal Wangdue in Los Angeles contributed to this report
