| Thousands of people from all over the United States converged in Madison for three days, May 2-4, to listen to the teachings and public talk of His Holiness, The 14th Dalai Lama, the spiritual and temporal leader of Tibetans. Tenzin Gyatso, the Dalai Lama, is believed to be the reincarnation of Avalokiteshvara, the Buddha of Compassion, according to Tibetan tradition. His Holiness came upon the invitation of Ven. Geshe Lhundub Sopa, founder and spiritual leader of Deer Park Buddhist Center in Oregon, Wis. It was no wonder to see hundreds of Tibetan Americans of all ages not only from Wisconsin but from other states such as Minnesota to help local Tibetans organize events around the Dalai Lama's visit as well as prepare cultural performances. For two days, His Holiness conducted experiential teachings of Lama Tsongkhapa at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, highlighted with Tibetan prayers. On Friday, the last day, he gave a public talk at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Kohl Center, titled "Compassion: The Source of Happiness." UW-Madison Chancellor John Riley welcomed His Holiness with a generous introduction, enumerating The Dalai Lama's achievements and insights into his earlier four visits to UW, including a meeting with top neuroscientists engaged in the research on the effects of meditation on brain functions, emotions and physical health. In the first installment, Asian Wisconzine brought you the talk of His Holiness at UW-Madison Kohl Center where he talked about Compassion as the source of happiness. In this last installment, he answered some written questions from the audience. (Note: edited for clarity and conciseness.) Answers to questions from the audience Q: As a mother of two children, how can I teach them to be good human beings in this world when they are surrounded by senseless acts of violence such as what we recently witnessed at Virginia Tech University? HH: A mother should provide maximum affection to your children. I have no actual experience taking care of children. Maybe it would be very nice to do that for a few hours; but longer than that, I don't know; I'm not very sure (laughter, applause). Q: What is your typical daily routine? Do you have any hobbies? HH: No special routine. Of course as a practitioner, the day starts at 2:30 in the morning, in my case 3:30. I do some meditation and some prayers. Then, of course, I'd have breakfast! As a Buddhist monk, I have no dinner; after lunch, there is no solid food, but sometimes if I feel hungry, I eat some biscuits. Buddha is very kind, so I'm sure he gives me permission to eat some biscuits. In some countries, they're really very, very strict: No solid food after lunch, so the next morning, I'm always very, very hungry. So, breakfast is very, very important. My younger brother tells me, the main reason I wake up early is not because of prayer or meditation but because of breakfast. I tell him it is true. But as a practitioner, I utilize the rest of the day doing more meaningful tasks. When the day begins, I make some preparation to have a strong determination in order to shift my mind, to make some impact. Nothing special. Meditation takes four hours, then I do some work, and if there's not much work, I read and study mainly Tibetan script which I learned from the past to refresh my mind, and it's very useful. Then I read print or listen to some media and in the afternoon, I meet with different people. Sometimes the meetings are very useful, sometimes not that useful. After I arrived in India, I tried to become vegetarian in 1965, and we're trying to promote vegetarianism, but once in two weeks, a eat a little non-vegetarian things. I sleep around eight, or nine, sometimes 10 hours. That's part of my rest. A have a busy day time, and long hours of sleep. So I'm very happy! Q: What can we do to help Tibet? HH: Pause) Of course, I appreciate your question or your concern. Since the end of 2000, we renewed the talk with the Chinese government. So we're trying to find a "mutually agreeable resolution" -- that means we're not seeking independence. In respect to our past history, according to this reality, Tibet as a landlocked country had a materially backward and small population. Modern education and trainings are otherwise lacking, meanwhile every Tibetan wants a modernized Tibet. Therefore, as far as material modernity is concerned, Tibet will get greater benefit to remain within the government of the People's Republic of China. At the same time, we also have a very unique cultural heritage and rich Buddhist tradition and beautiful and delicate environment. Therefore we need a special arrangement regarding preservation of Tibetan spirituality and Tibetan environment. The present arrangement, the so-called "autonomy," is actually only on paper. In reality, all decision makers are people who have no idea about our culture, Tibetan spirituality, and the delicate situation of the Tibetan environment. The present situation is actually no guarantee for their preservation. The concern exists only outside of Tibet. The problem with Chinese officials is that they're only concern is political. A few years ago, one party secretary in the autonomous region of Tibet said that the source of threat of Tibetan separation is Tibetan Buddhism. So accordingly they put some restrictions and the political education of monks and nuns. Political education is OK, but in reality, political education to the Chinese government means "criticism of the Dalai Lama," and absolute loyalty to the Communist Party. Those who didn't criticize the Dalai Lama are expelled from the monasteries. There are lots of contradictions in their pronouncements. I often meet with Tibetans from Tibet (who faced some risks for doing so) including some old retired officials, some old party members. I met one Tibetan Communist Party secretary for 40 years, and I told him jokingly, "Since you are a communist, then you should not practice Buddhism." He answered, "Yes, I've been a communist for more than 40 years; but no single day did I have some kind of doubt toward Buddha nor The Dalai Lama." So even those old communist party members, in some cases, ideologically genuine communists, still have very strong Tibetan Buddhist spirituality. I think that in modern Tibet, 95% of Tibetan people are just like that. I always tell Chinese leaders that their policy should be realistic. I feel that to deal with the problem, we're not seeking independence but a special arrangement, a genuine autonomy which the Chinese constitution provides. The Tibetan problem between our Chinese brothers and sisters must be resolved between us. Our sympathizers are very helpful in finding a meaningful solution, but the final solution must be between Tibetans and Chinese. We are not seeking independence. Please give us meaningful autonomy, so that the People's Republic of China will have the stability, prosperity and harmony which the President is stressing. We can have harmony. So to our friends here and our Chinese brothers and sisters here, my approach is for stability, prosperity, and harmony. |
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| Heidi M. Pascual* Publisher & Editor Asian Wisconzine magazine *2006 Journalist of the Year for the State of Wisconsin (U.S.-SBA) heidipascual@sbcglobal.net |
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| His Holiness, The Dalai Lama, in Madison Brings his message of compassion Part 2 of 2 |
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| (R) The Dalai Lama, during his experiential teaching at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum on May 2 |