By Phuntsok Yangchen
DHARAMSHALA, October 31: The Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama on Wednesday said that he resisted negative feelings towards the Chinese authorities during 2008 uprising by imagining taking away their hatred and giving back love.
“As human beings we deliberately try to be compassionate towards those who do us harm. In 2008, when demonstrations broke out across Tibet, I felt apprehensive and helpless, much as I did during the 1959 uprising. I employed a mind training practice and visualized Chinese officials, imagining taking away their anger and hatred and giving love and affection back to them. Of course, it didn’t affect what was actually going on, but it helped me keep a calm mind,” said His Holiness the Dalai Lama addressing over 5000 people at Princeton University, USA on ‘How to Develop the Heart and Discussion of Service’.
In 2008, the year Beijing hosted the Olympic Games, a widespread demonstration against Chinese regime took place across Tibet.
His Holiness also advised the students to read widely and take account of diverse points of view. He told them not to neglect inner values if they wanted to make life meaningful.
“If you young people who today belong to the first generation of the 21st century make an effort now, you may be able to create a happier, more peaceful world,” said His Holiness. “But you can’t take for granted that it will happen by itself, you’ll need to take action.”
The Tibetan Nobel laureate also noted that “warm-heartedness, working with compassion and self-confidence” are the key to happiness.
The Tibetan leader said despite a huge development in the field of science and technology, human beings still face many man-made problems. “We are social animals. We depend on the community in which we live. Therefore, we need a sense of global responsibility, because the well-being of humanity is our own well-being. We all want to live a happy life; none of us wants to suffer. So we need a sense that we all belong to one human family. Then there’ll be no chance to harm, exploit or cheat others.“
Tomorrow, His Holiness is scheduled to give a public talk on ‘Educating the Heart and Mind’ organized by the Tibetan Association of Boston.
