Auckland, New Zealand, 5 December 2009 - After Friday's rain, the day dawned in Auckland
with just a few light clouds.
His Holiness started a busy day with an interview
with Maori television presenter Mike King.
After this he held an audience for the Mongolian
community in New Zealand. Aproximately 70 members of Mongolian families
received advice about the preservation and development of their own culture
while taking full advantage of modern education and technology. They were able
to have a group photo with His Holiness as well as receiving individual
blessings from him as he left the audience.
The next stop was a meeting with the committees of
Friends of Tibet New Zealand and the Tibetan Childrens Relief Society. Since
1962 the society has been supporting hundreds of children at the Tibetan
Childrens' Village in Upper Dharamsala and the Tibetan Homes Foundation in
Mussoorie. At this event a special presentation was made to two committee
members, Thuten Kesang and Jean Nuttall, honoring them as Life Members of the
Society after 45 years of continuous service. Joyce Murdock and Michael van
Walt van Praag were also appointed as honorary members, for their many years of
service for the Tibetan community.
His Holiness then met with members of the
Parliamentary Green party. Co-leader Russell Norman, together with Sue Kedgley,
Keith Locke and David Clendon were briefed by His Holiness particularly on
concerns of climate change and especially the potential effect of policies on
the Tibetan Plateau for all the communities of Asia that may be affected by
disruption to water supplies through deglaciation.
These Members of Parliament were then joined by 7
more members of the Parliamentary Lobby Group for Tibet. This group was
established under the urging of Thuten Kesang, as a cross-party Parliamentary
grouping that takes particular concern for the interests of Tibetan
people.
Their comments recorded by TV One News
after the event showed that what His Holiness had to say was deeply appreciated
by all the members present. We hope that this will influence parliamentary and
Government initiatives in the future.
In
the afternoon His Holiness addressed an audience of over 6000 people at the
Vector Arena on the topic 'A Peaceful Mind'. After an opening of songs by
Tibetan singer Jungchen Lhamo, His Holiness was welcomed onto the stage by
members of the local Maori iwi (tribe) Ngati Whatua in a traditional greeting of mihi whakatau, a call of welcome by a woman of the local tribe with
responses by a woman from another tribe acting as representative of His
Holiness.
In
his talk His Holiness spoke on the themes of compassion, tolerance, dialogue and
cause and effect as components to promote inner peace and from that, outer
peace.
The
event concluded with thanks on behalf of the audience from film-maker Niki
Caro.
Simon Harrison
Secretary, Dalai Lama Visit Trust
New Zealand
