Monday 11 June, 2007

His Holiness in Melbourne

Yesterday I went to see His Holiness at the Rod Laver Arena. He gave teachings over three days, but I only got to this, the final day. In the morning he gave a Manjushri blessing and empowerment.

In the last two hours he took questions. Following are some notes I took (which are abridged):

Q. What can Australians do for Tibet? A. This is a complex questions and can be answered in several ways. I can explain the situation and you can choose what you can then do to help: 1. The environment. This doesn't just affect 6 million Tibetans but more than 1 billion people, specifically people in northern India, Pakistan and China. There is indiscriminate deforestation and unprecedented floods [as a result]. The Chinese government is taking interest in this problem now. Small NGO's, in particular, taking an interest in the ecology of Tibet. 2. Many rare species of animals are becoming extinct. 3. Damage is being done to Tibetan culture. You need to spend time in Tibet and with Tibetan people. You need to study the culture so knowledge remains and it cannot be eliminated. 4. Human Rights Violations. Difficult to identify unless time is spent in Tibet. Need to record Who is being tortured, How many people are being tortured and find out what kind of torture. [H.H. then recounted the story of a man he had spoken to recently and the terrible torture he'd undergone. He became, momentarily, distressed.] Do the leaders in China actually know the details of what guards and others are doing? In a totalitarian system there are too many secrets. 5. Donate money to help improve education in Tibet. [H.H. then spoke of the level of ignorance of many Chinese people on Tibet.That they are told, for eg. that he is just a silly old man. That they have liberated Tibet. The inevitable result of this is that many Chinese resent Tibetans for not appreciating what has been done for them. Important to educate the Chinese (in and out of China) also.]

I was struck by the gentleness with which he spoke of China. The teachings over the three days were on 'The Eight Verses for Training the Mind' and 'Nargarjuna's Commentary on the Awakening Mind'. In his readings of both he spoke about Boddichitta (the development of compassion). One way of developing boddichitta is to exchange yourself for others - ie. put yourself in other poeple's shoes (a less elegant metaphor than many he used I hasten to say) and learning to distinguish between the agent, and the action. You could see this in the way he spoke of the China.

I wish John So had felt able to summon as much dignity. Shame on him for acting as a mouth piece for the Chinese government, rather than our Lord Mayor. And John Howard? I suspect he won't rise to the occasion either.

The second question H.H. was asked was: Q. What has been your greatest challenge? What has been a personal highlight? A. This kind of question is silly. Not of much use. I'm here. My spirit is fresh. That is all.

There was alot more said, of course, but I don't want to bore people. But it was an honor to be in the presence of such an authentic leader. There are few enough of them in this world.

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