H.H. Dalai Lama

We arrived in Toulouse on August 6.  After a few days of being here I noticed the front page of a newspaper with a photo of that evermore popular and universal familiar smiling face of a monk wearing maroon robes.  He is known the world over as His Holiness, (H.H.) the Dalai Lama.  I picked up the local French paper and deciphered that he was going to be visiting Toulouse.

When I had computer access I googled him and found he was giving lectures the following weekend.  Tickets were sold out, but I found it was possible to get a ticket if you showed up at the ticket counter.   So, we did show up and voila! (my new French word that is so fun to use) I got a ticket!  Very synchronistic that he was scheduled to be here one week after my arrival and I had no clue.

Already a couple of Krista's French friends have asked me what he talked about and often people have asked me what it was like to hear him, since my last seeing him in 2003, in Dharamshala, India.  Well, I will share with you what he talked about.  Really, if you have always wanted to see or hear him, I strongly recommend picking up one of his many books, they are very well written and include exactly what he talks about in his public talks.

This particular public talk was titled "The Art of Happiness", which I think is the exact title of one of his published books.

The Zenith auditorium is where the event took place and my seat was high up, about midway.  I looked down upon the stage and saw about a dozen monks sitting in their maroon colored  robes.  Saffron and orange colored fabircs hung on the stage next to a beautiful Tibetan Thonka.  It was a full house. I felt lucky to get a ticket into the auditoruim.  Many people were outside under a tent watching the same thing, live, projected onto a movie screen.

Krista dropped me off and took my crying Ruby.  I felt badly, as is usual for a mother, to leave her crying daughter, but Ruby and I have not been separated much in the past few months and Ruby did not quite understand that I bought only one ticket and it was going to be hard for her to sit through the 2 hours even if she did go with me.  She knows who the Dalai Lama is and wanted to see him too.  This made me sad but once I got to my seat, I realized she would have had a hard time sitting still in the auditorium.

H.H.  began his talk about by explaining Secular Ethics.  "The basis of Secular Ethics is the Promotion of Human Value.  Secular ethics, a.k.a. moral ethics, is ultimately the right to take care of others well-beingness.  It does not mean to forget yourself. You also have the right to take care of yourself.  A sense of respect towards others and oneself is considered a sense of well-being which is Moral Ethics." He described two types of Moral Ethics:  Religious Ethics and Secular Ethics.  He stressed Secular Ethics because religious ethics is too biased; too hypocritical.

"Basically, we are social animals", says HH.  "In order to have happy life it depends on the rest of the community you are in". 

 "Today I speak like a nonbeliever", he said, meaning he was not touching on any one religion.  "Because the world is made up of approximately 7 billion human beings, many of which are Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, Sikh, Jain, etc, he stressed his position of 'nonbeliever' so as to appeal to all.  He went to explain how there is so much hypocrisy amongst all these people of  all these religions, who spend there time praying to God rather than sitting down with other members of your community or even family and friends and talking things through.  This is what is important.  When you have a conflict, sit, face to face and talk."

(On a personal note,  I am a communicator, and I sure appreciate people in my life when they communicate with us and to sit down with us and talk! )

"For better health and well-being surround yourself with friends; be calm; be in a good community.

Take a look at your internal emotions - this is what creates either a calm mind or the opposite: fear; anxiety; worry; hatred.  Warm heartedness is the key to bringing a calm mind; and  healthy body.  Your mental state is very important to your health.  Having a calm mind helps one to recover rapidly.  Fear; anger; hatred can eat our immune system."

"In a study done by a scientist in the U.S.A., according to his findings, people who say 'I, I, I, me, me, me', (too much self-centered attitude) are in much higher danger of heart attack.  So much, "I", "I", "I", this person then becomes very lonely and this person has much fear, also.  When really, according to H.H., there is no difference, we are all the same. There is no difference between any of us, we are all the same."

H.H. continued on with his talk...

"The whole world is an entity now, more so than ever.  Now today, the economy is a global economy and global warming brings us together. And so, the world becomes a smaller place.  Therefore, the reality itself shows us we need more cooperation in general - cooperation based on friendship, based on trust, based on honesty.  There has been too much selfishness in the past."

"Education is universal.  Only Secular Ethics can be universal. Religion can not be universal.  Modern education.  More education.  Information and education about nonviolence."

"Global responsibility; peaceful responsibility."

"Pay attention to your inner qualities."

"Willpower comes from wellbeing - inner wellbeing = Inner strength."

"Politicians need some sort of spirituality because they are in touch with and dealing with so many people".

That was the basis of the 2 hour public talk.  There was a Q & A time at the end. 

 

He has a good sense of humor.  In the very beginning when he gave the traditional white shawl to the French official, he explains in a serious manner how the shawl is traditionally used and given and then he adds "it is made in China", and he laughs.