Contact is taking a holiday!

His Holiness with Mayors and other individuals concerned with building compassionate cities after their meeting in Rochester, Minnesota
Photo: Tenzin Taklha /OHHDL

His Holiness the Dalai Lama is back to health and taking up his schedules again after undergoing precautionary treatment and regular medical check-up earlier this month at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota United States of America.

While in Rochester, His Holiness met the mayors of three cities: Mayor Tom Tait of Anaheim, California, Mayor Greg Fischer of Louisville, Kentucky and Mayor Ardell Brede of Rochester, Minnesota on February 11. The meeting was to discuss the importance of instilling kindness and compassion in today’s world and the need to develop school curricula to focus on secular ethnics.  His Holiness spoke of the recent name change for two of the cities: Anaheim city had adopted the name ‘City of Kindness’ and Louisville city had adopted the name ‘City of Compassion’. His Holiness said he appreciated the mayors’ effort in naming the cities for kindness and compassion and strongly expressed his view that the time has come to start a systematic effort to encourage more kind-hearted people in the world.

He said, “We are witnessing lots of suffering in today’s world, including the recent refugee problem. We must question what is wrong in today’s world. I feel we are lacking a sense of respect for others’ lives, a sense of concern for other’s well being, which is kindness. We only think of me, me, me! That is the seed of today’s problem”.

Stressing the importance of teaching secular ethnics to the younger generation, His Holiness said “All children receive immense affection and love from their mothers. This is a biological factor, not based on religion. We should be able to find a way to promote these values on this level, not based on religious faith. This is what I call secular ethnics. Secular in the Indian context of respecting not only religious believers but also those who do not believe in religion.”

He spoke about finding a way to fit secular ethnics into school curricula and also spoke of Emory University who have helped to develop a draft curriculum on secular ethnics. He explained that the secular education curriculum was based on scientific education in combination with common sense and experience.

Referring to his commitment to endorsing humanitarian ethics, he said “I remain committed till my death to the promotion of the oneness of seven billion human beings.”

Mayor Greg Fischer of Louisville reflected that during His Holiness’ visit to their city in 2013, he was requested to try and introduce the concept of secular ethnics to their community. He shared that through his experience; he has found that people are more accepting of terms such as ‘human values’ or ‘universal values’ than of the word ‘secular’. He informed His Holiness that his city is implementing teachings of basic human values: kindness, compassion and love. Mayo Fischer also explained that the University of Virginia is collaborating in research to explore the differences resulting from teaching those values in schools..

Speaking about  the need to develop inner values or inner richness amidst material development, His Holiness said, “I have been having a dialogue with a number of scientists, educational professionals and others over the last ten years. Many of them agreed that the existing educational system was not adequate enough as it was focused on material values. So there was a need to add education on warm-heartedness. However, in the beginning stages this needed to be done on a small-scale level and once the positive results became clear, then it could be expanded to include more schools and institutions.”

On February 21, His Holiness gave a short teaching on Geshe Langri Thangpa’s Eight Verses of Training the Mind (lojong tsik gyema) and conferred the Generating of Bodhicitta (semkyi) at the Minneapolis Convention Centre to the audience of around 3,000. The Tibetan community there welcomed His Holiness with dance and Tibetan children sang a song of praise for him.

The Mayor of Minneapolis, Betsy Hodges, and State Representative Carolyn Laine welcomed His Holiness to their city.

His Holiness thanked everyone gathered there for their efforts in preserving Tibetan tradition and culture despite living outside Tibet for almost 60 year, saying “The Tibetan spirit is strong, and we’ve kept our culture and religious traditions alive.

“From his facial expression, his laughs and his body posture, it is crystal clear that His Holiness the Dalai Lama is healthy and happy as ever,” said Namgyal Rabten, a member of Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota, reported Phayul.

On March 8, His Holiness is scheduled to give a short teaching on Geshe Langri Thangpa’s Eight Verses of Mind Training (Lojong tsik gyema) which was organised by the Wisconsin Tibetan Association at the Madison Masonic Centre.