By Tsering Tashi (Office of Tibet, London)
GOTHENBURG, June 13 – The opening of the 5th International Congress of Cognitive Psychotherapy concluded here this evening at the Gothenburg Convention Centre with the singing of the birthday song by participants, consisting mainly of scientists, teachers and guest observers from over 40 countries and all the continents, including a staff from Health Department of the Central Tibetan Administration in Dharamsala, India. The song was conducted by Peter Holmstrand to usher the 70th birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who after being offered flowers by Gunilla Westling, on behalf of the science conference participants, joined hands with the author and Psychotherapist Prof. Aaron Tim Beck with whom the Tibetan leader had minutes before shared the podium for a meaningful discussion on “Meeting of the Minds.”
Also on the podium were Astrid Palm Beskow, President of the Scientific Committee, and representative of the Center for Cognitive Psychotherapy at whose invitation His Holiness was in Gothenburg. The vote of thanks on behalf of the organisers to His Holiness was presented by Prof. Paul Salkovskis of UK, who expressed how the hard work of Mrs. Beskow and participation of His Holiness had drawn a record 1,400 strong participants to the conference.
Expressing his appreciation for the warm response and long standing ovation applause, His Holiness told the delegates that the best birthday gift they could give to him was to be a good-hearted and a compassionate person.
“This way we can create a positive atmosphere for our home, society, nation and the world,” His Holiness said. “I believe that every individual has the potential to help humanity. So please keep this in mind.”
The Tibetan Nobel Peace Laureate told the conference delegates that as a Buddhist monk he does not celebrate his birthday and that for him every morning is like a birthday. Referring to individual birthdays, His Holiness, to the delight of everyone in the hall, reciprocated by saying, “Happy birthday to all of you”. This attracted another round of applause for His Holiness and further enhanced the already relaxed atmosphere in the hall with another round of smiles and laughter. According to a conference organiser, the event was also attended by 40 journalists representing the regional, national and the international media.
In his opening remarks, Prof. Aaron Tim Beck, author of 17 books, including “Prisoners of Hate”, a copy of which he presented to His Holiness, said that there were many more similarities than dissimilarities between Cognitive Psychotherapy and Buddhism.
Cognitive is said to represent those processes that deal with the thoughts, beliefs, opinions, perceptions, attitudes and interpretations that characterise human mental activity.
His Holiness agreed with Prof. Beck’s conclusion and said how in his earlier meetings with scientists, some of them had commented that they consider Buddhism as a ‘science of mind’ rather than a religion. He said that Buddhism, like science, believes in searching for the truth, the only difference being that scientific truth is tested in laboratories whereas the truth for Buddhism is to do with the mind and indulgence in what he called “analytical meditation”.
In response to a comment from Prof. Beck about “analytical meditation” having to do with Buddhism, His Holiness said that it was there even before the birth of Buddhism.
“There is nothing special about analytical meditation. It is about using human intelligence,” His Holiness said.
Prof. Beck’s admission, however, that analytical meditation was discovered by the scientific world “only a few years ago” apparently took many by surprise and even prompted His Holiness and the delegates to laugh.
Earlier the discussion began on a lively note when His Holiness said that in accordance with his monastic tradition, he would like to greet Prof. Beck
(84-years-old) by bowing to him with folded hands.
His Holiness joked that although he himself was now in the old-age category because he was nearing 70, he is still younger than Prof. Beck, who was most unassuming and simple in his approach and demeanour.
After the programme, while on way to the hotel, His Holiness said with reference to the event that he found Prof. Beck to be a nice, cultured, and a wise man.
The “Meeting of Minds” conversation between His Holiness and Prof. Beck discussed several positive and negative human traits such as hatred, jealousy, attachment, pain and suffering, and how these could be overcome and interpreted from their respective points of views. His Holiness and Prof. Beck both agreed that materialism alone could not guarantee a happy and a contented life.
“People who have more material wealth want more and, as such, we see that they are more discontented. If you are a contented person then you can consider yourself as rich,” His Holiness said, adding that discontentment gives rise to more anger and jealousy.
“So discontentment not only gives rise to more negative emotions but also one experience less peace of mind,” said His Holiness, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for leading the non-violent Tibetan struggle.
His Holiness’ other engagements for the day included a visit to the city’s newly constructed the Museum of World Culture. He offered a short prayer in the area where a sand mandala has been painstakingly created by two monks from Namgyal Monastery in Dharamsala, before addressing the guests and museum staff, who had been waiting for this day with much enthusiasm.
“It is interesting to see how the Dalai Lama is regarded by all sections of the people. He is respected by people both young and old as well as by people from the right and left. We feel blessed,”
Jette Sandahl, Director of Museum of World Culture, told this writer.
With reference to the sand mandala she said that response from the public has been encouraging. “We have had many, many people coming to see the colourful sand mandala made by the Tibetan monks with a mixture of curiosity and respect. The monks arranged the workshop table and invited the people to practice the art by showing them how to do it by first writing their own names. It is spirituality in an artistic way,” the museum’s director said.
After his visit to the museum, His Holiness gave the pre-scheduled joint media interview to answer a series of questions ranging from how to achieve ‘happiness’
to the question of Tibet. His Holiness reiterated that he was optimistic of his return to Tibet during his lifetime and that the dialogue begun three years back between his delegation and the Chinese government was about finding a solution to the Tibetan problem in the best interest of both the Tibetan and Chinese peoples.
The print, radio and TV news coverage of His Holiness’
visit and the public lecture he jointly addressed yesterday with the Archbishop has been extensive.
“The news of His Holiness’ visit and the event held yesterday at the Scandinavium arena has been even reported by two of the important newspapers published from the capital Stockholm, which is good. Usually they never publish any news or events that take place here in Gothenburg,” said Psychologist Lena Weiren, as she offered to provide for this writer a verbal English translation from Swedish of the coverage received in the regional and national newspapers.
His Holiness has visited Sweden on several occasions. The last time he visited the country was in 2003 when was invited to address members of the Swedish parliament and also to the Globen stadium for a public talk, tickets for which had then been sold out within a few months of their release, evidently indicating the popular public interest to hear the Tibetan leader’s message of peace, non-violence and universal responsibility.
Tomorrow morning His Holiness and entourage will leave for the Norwegian capital Oslo for the second leg of his current trip to Scandinavia.
