San Diego, California, USA, 10 April 2012 - On his final full day in San
Diego during this visit, on April 19th His Holiness the Dalai Lama
continued with his theme of compassion without borders and spoke to a
sold out crowd of 13,000 people at the San Diego State University on
upholding universal ethics and compassion. He also participated in a
discussion on neuroscience and the emerging mind with scientists.
In the morning, His Holiness visited the Viejas Arena of San Diego
State University and gave an interview to Maureen Cavanaugh of KPBS, the
San Diego affiliate of Public Broadcasting Service. He responded to
questions relating to compassion in the American society and on his
devolution of political authority. This is being broadcast later in the
day.
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| San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders presents His Holiness
the Dalai Lama with the Key to the City in San Diego on April 19, 2012.
Photo/Tim Mantoani |
Thereafter, His Holiness entered the stage of the
arena to a thunderous welcome from the people. Dr. Elliot Hirshman,
President of San Diego State University, welcomed His Holiness to the
event. Thereafter, San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders presented His Holiness
with the Key to the City. In a brief remark, the Mayor said, “Throughout
his teachings, His Holiness encourages all of us to strive for a better
future, through peace and compassion for others. With this key, we
offer His Holiness a promise to keep working for a brighter tomorrow."
The Mayor said that His Holiness’ message of compassion and peace
resonates with the citizens of his city.
Ms. Lauren Powell Jobs, in her introduction of His
Holiness, said his message was that altruism to our spiritual wellbeing
is a civic responsibility. She termed His Holiness a religious leader
who includes and not excludes. She applauded the approach of His
Holiness and the Tibetan people even in the face of “terrible experience
of oppression that continues even to this day.”
His Holiness then began his talk on “Upholding Universal Ethics and Compassion in Challenging Times”
His Holiness said he usually began by calling everyone brothers and
sisters, through which he wanted to indicate that we are truly the same
human being. He said we have the same potential for construction and
destruction. He said fear, jealousy, anger, frustrations, etc.
ultimately bring destructive action, both physical and verbal.
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| His Holiness the Dalai Lama adjusts his San Diego
State University visor during his talk at the University on April 19,
2012. Photo/Tom Mantoani |
His Holiness said the seed of compassion was in each and every
individual. He said even animals like cats, dogs and birds respond to
affections shown to them. He added that kittens and puppies could
respond these form of biological compassion. He talked about newborn
puppies whose eyes may not be opened but nevertheless looks for the
nipples of their mother and feel happy once they find them and start
consuming the milk. He said turtles might be an exception as the mothers
don’t care for the eggs once they are hatched. With alligators, His
Holiness said that he had noticed that the mother would watch from a
distance as her egg hatches. These show that compassion was needed when
life begins, he said, adding that compassion was essential even at the
time life ends. He said showing of closeness feeling at the time of a
person’s death will ease the process for the person and that money,
power , fame, etc. are of no use at that stage.
His Holiness said from his own experience he knows that an
affectionate feeling shown by others has a positive feeling in oneself.
He talked about his experience with doctors saying some doctors merely
seem to treat patients without much of a personal feeling. At such time,
he said he gets the feeling that the doctor may merely be performing an
experiment on him.
His Holiness suggested generating a feeling of oneness and recalled a
chant that he had heard in Hawaii recently, the meaning of which was
explained to him as being. “Your bone is my bone, your blood is my
blood.” He said this was very meaningful and said that we need to have
the feeling that “your life is my life, your health is my health.” He
added that such an attitude was very useful.
Explaining that compassion was something that needed to be
cultivated by oneself, His Holiness talked about his growing awareness
of western societies since his first travel to Europe in 1973. He said
Tibetans had the impression that Europe was highly developed. In fact,
those Tibetans who settled in Switzerland in the early 1960s expressed
that the country was indeed paradise. But through his subsequent
travels to Europe, the United States, Canada, etc., he became aware of
another reality that was beneath the beautiful surface. He learnt about
problems of stress, alcohol, drugs, etc.
His Holiness said the situation in these countries clearly indicated
that material development alone cannot bring about inner peace. He
added that physical comfort couldn’t subdue mental affliction. On the
other hand, if one is mentally calm, this can subdue any physical pain.
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| Some members of the packed Viejas Arena of San Diego
State University listening to His Holiness the Dalai Lama speaking in
San Diego on April 19, 2012. Photo/Tom Mantoani |
His Holiness also talked about the situation of gap between the rich and
the poor throughout the world. He said during his visits to Africa and
Latin America, he could see this condition. He said one of the issues
affecting the world is corruption, which he said is the new cancer.
He said these problems come about because of a lack of
self-discipline and training in moral ethics. Although there are people
who say that moral ethics should be based on religion, His Holiness
said such a situation would have limited effect as no one religion can
claim universal acceptance. Since the problem, is universal, he said
that we need to look for a universal solution. His suggestion was to
look for an approach that is not grounded in religion. He said this was
not a new idea as it has been a part of ancient Indian thoughts. He
talked about the secularism that was promoted by India and that this did
not mean being against religion.
He said that children interact with each other without any thoughts
of their respective background or social conditions. But as one grows up
one begins to be taught about backgrounds and the earlier feeling of
oneness becomes dormant.
Instead different feelings grow. He talked about the importance for
people to make a distinction between these feelings. Competition in the
sense of wanting to excel and to be at the top was good, but extreme
competition that makes one desire worse outcome for others while wanting
good for oneself was negative. Similarly, if one had extreme
self-centered ego that disregarded other’s feelings it was negative
while a sense of strong self in order to serve other people with
infinite altruism is positive.
He said the feeling of desire that is mixed with attachment was
destructive and shortsighted. Also, anger that comes out of a sense of
concern for the wellbeing of others was positive while anger born out of
ill feeling was negative.
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| San Diego State University's Viejas Arena, venue for His Holiness the Dalai Lama's talk in San Diego on April 19, 2012. Photo/Tom Mantoani |
His Holiness said people could understand the importance of the need to
promote compassion through common experience, use of their common sense
and through scientific findings about the connection between a healthy
body and a healthy mind. He said calm mind could only be developed
through warm heartedness.
His Holiness talked about the importance of training the mind in
this and to remove grounds for fear. Some fear, he said, would be valid
and gave the example of people living in Dharamsala being afraid of
earthquake as it is in the earthquake zone. Under such a situation the
fear leads people to take precaution, he said. His Holiness also talked
about his visits to China and India in the 1950s and being nervous then
while meeting the leaders in these countries. However, subsequently
through increased familiarity as well as through training he was able to
overcome the nervousness, he said. His Holiness said his tradition of
dedicating his body, speech and action to the wellbeing of others every
morning was helpful in transforming his mental state.
His Holiness said we needed to go away from the old concept of
differentiating between me and others or we and they. Instead we need to
think of a concept of Big We, with the entire seven billion people of
the world being part of that.
His Holiness then answered some questions. When asked how could an
individual make a difference in this world, His Holiness said change
occurs because of the combination of effort by individuals. We need to
think along these lines and to know that an individual’s effort can
multiply. He said Jesus, Buddha and Mahavira, etc. were all
individuals, who were able to make a difference.
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| His Holiness the Dalai Lama answering a question
from the audience during his talk at San Diego State University on April
19, 2012. Photo/Tom Mantoani |
A questioner asked about the most important thing to achieve in life.
His Holiness responded by saying that in terms of the humanity in
general, it would be a peaceful life. At the individual level, he said
that those believing in theistic religion would want to go to heaven.
Since he is a Buddhist, His Holiness said many Tibetans would like to
achieve Buddhahood in three years, which is unrealistic. But he said he
was realistic and was striving to achieve the same in eons.
Asked about the biggest inspirations in his life, His Holiness said
since he is a Buddhist he may be prejudiced, but the Buddha is his
inspiration. In modern times, he said Mahatma Gandhi is his inspiration
adding that he had not met Gandhi, except in a dream. He added that he
also admired Vaclav Havel, Mother Teresa, and Thomas Merton.
At the end His Holiness stressed on the people gathered to strive to
cultivate warm-heartedness and a sense of global responsibility. He
said those people below 30 years or so have the opportunity to make the
21st century a better century.
Thereafter, as per the tradition established by His Holiness with
events connected with him, the organizers made a financial statement. He
said no public fund was used to bear the expenses connected with the
visit. The total income as of April 17, 2012 from the events was $
574,000 and the expenses to date were $527,000. The organizing
committee’s representative made it clear that His Holiness the 14th
Dalai Lama does not charge a speaking engagement fee and no aspect of
His Holiness' visit is being used to profit financially. He added that
any funds raised through sponsorships and tickets sales will be used
only to cover expenses for the events. Any surplus fund from the events
will be disbursed to national and international charitable
organizations. The organizers presented Ven. Tenzin Dhonden, Chair of
the Organizing Committee, with a citation appreciating his contribution.
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| Members of the Native American Kumeyaay tribe
perform traditional song and dance for His Holiness the Dalai Lama in
San Diego on April 19, 2012. Photo/Tom Mantoani |
Following lunch, His Holiness met a group of people from the Kumeyaay
tribe of Native American people. They performed some songs and dances to
welcome His Holiness in their tradition. They also expressed their
understanding of and support for the Tibetan people based on their own
experience with their homeland in the United States. His Holiness
advised them on the importance of getting good modern education and at
the same time preserving their culture and language. He suggested that
they think of devising a written script to promote and preserve their
culture and language. He also said people could learn from the Māori
people of New Zealand as they are the most advanced among indigenous
people.
Thereafter, His Holiness went to the Scripps Institution of
Oceanography and participated in a discussion with scientists titled,
“Neuroscience and the Emerging Mind: A Conversation on Human
Consciousness and Compassion.”
This panel discussion was a collaborative effort between the three
San Diego universities to engage His Holiness in a conversation on human
consciousness, from both scientific and philosophical perspectives.
His co-panelists were Dr. Jennifer Thomas, Professor of Psychology,
San Diego State University; Dr. V.S. Ramachandran, Director of the
Center for Brain and Cognition, University of California, San Diego; and
Dr. Larry Hinman, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, University of
San Diego.
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| His Holiness the Dalai Lama and fellow panelists
during their discussion at the Scripps Institution in San Diego on April
19, 2012. Photo/Tom Mantoani |
In his welcome remarks, Dr. William Mobley, Neuroscience Department
Chair, UC San Diego, said, “Much has been written and said of this
extraordinary man, Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama. That many
dimensions of human experience that have engaged His Holiness is well
known. But it is in the juxtaposing his experiences and titles that one
begins to understand him.
“He is called the Reincarnation of the Compassionate Buddha – but he
thinks of himself a simple monk.” “He is a spiritual leader, but also a
powerful advocate for scientific research.”
“He is a man of peace, but also a man who relentlessly pursues
justice.” “A person of this place and time, but equally a man for all
places and all times.”
He referred to His Holiness’ relationship with Prof. Bob Livingston, his predecessor at University of California, San Diego.
Dr. Mobley also recognized Dr. Thupten Jinpa Langri as “a dear friend and colleague.”
His Holiness and the scientists engaged in a very deep discussion
about the nature of brain during different aspects of human action and
emotion.
His Holiness departs San Diego for Long Beach on April 20, 2012 morning to begin his programs there.
