Dalai Lama Draws Thousands of Japanese Buddhist Crowd

Yokohama, Japan, 20 November 2007 (Phayul) - Some 5000 Buddhists, mainly Japanese, congregated in the National Convention Hall of Yokohama city, Kanagawa prefecture, to hear His Holiness deliver message of peace and hope.

His Holiness was invited by the All Japanese Buddhist Federation (AJBF) and Kanagawa Buddhist Federation (KBF) to speak on the topic Shinzuru Kokoro to Heiwa (Faith and Peace) at the Buddhist Conference commemorating their 50th and 40th anniversaries respectively.

Mainly relying on his own experience and from the lessons of the Buddhist Tibetan tradition, The Tibetan spiritual leader spoke on how to create a more peaceful world by reducing gap between human perception and realities in today's world.

His Holiness blamed many of the world's man-made problems and crisis to lack of 'realistic approach'.

Pointing out at the problem of 'more mental and emotional crisis among younger generation' and increasing global 'environmental damages', His Holiness told the Buddhist conference that 'these problems which we are facing are creation of human beings themselves - in some cases (through) mistakes, some cases - negligence, and also some cases out of ignorance'.

'The gap between human perception and today's reality should be reduced. There should be less and less gap between these two for a more sensible approach to reduce many problems,' His Holiness insisted.

The Tibetan spiritual leader also did not approve the wide gap between the rich and poor, which he says 'exists even in developed nations like United States and Japan'. 'That is not only morally wrong