Dalai Lama Urges the Globe to Encompass Responsibility and Compassion

Perry Uwanawich

Issue date: 3/2/10 Section: Current Affairs

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Media Credit: Ashley Chang-Story His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet.

In a world where "every man for himself" is a common mentality and seemingly sim-ilar religions are at odds with one another, the Dalai Lama is spreading a message of religious harmony and universal responsibility.

Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, spoke at NSU's Don Taft University Center Arena on Tuesday, Feb. 23, giving two speeches: the first, for mostly students, faculty and staff, on universal responsibility and the second, open to the general public, on global compassion. He was awarded a honorary bachelor's degree from Broward College, co-host of the event, in teacher education for his humanitarian efforts and philosophy of peace, empathy and conscientiousness.

The Dalai Lama was informed that the two Tibetan students given full scholarships at his last visit, biology major, Tashi Wangla, and business major, Tenzin Chokden, will be graduating in spring and that two Tibetan women, Tenzin Kelsang and Tenzin Seldon, were granted full scholarships to begin their college careers at NSU in the fall. After accepting the degree, he greeted the audience saying "Dear brothers and sisters, indeed I am very happy once more here. Personally, I want to thank this institution, as it takes some good Tibetans."

The Dalai Lama opened his speech urging the audience to develop a general sense of concern and compassion: "Race, nationality, religious faith, pro-fession, social background, I always consider secondary. Most important, we are the same, human, on that level [there are] no differences." He later explained, when asked about forgiveness, that when we become fixated on an aspect or action of a person,we become mentally biased and that meditating on this leads to conviction and compassion: "That compassion," he declared, "can reach six billion human beings."

Mike Everhart, freshman exercise science major, was inspired by the statement, and said, "Since the world is getting smaller and we're becoming more global, we have to think of things as a whole. We're all human beings in that the color of our skin or where we come from doesn't matter."

Although he was very serious about his message, the charismatic Dalai Lama drew a few laughs out of the crowd as he wrapped himself in his scarlet garb to portray the previous Tibetan generation, placed a matching sun visor on his head and when asked about his talk with President Obama, replied, "That's top secret!"

Jokes aside, the Dalai Lama expects the individual to heed his message personally, "One's own interest depends very much on other people's [interests]," he said, explaining that we should not assume that others will solve our problems. He shared an approach of his, that he imagines himself on one side and all of humanity on the other, which helps him focus on universal responsibility and consider the greater cause. He professed that it is in the best interest of a selfish person to be altruistic. If one takes care of others and is concerned with their welfare, he or she will have more people on his or her side when in a time of need.

Silvana Fasce, junior finance major, believed it was a simple message we should each apply to our lives, "I think he's awesome, everything he said was beautiful. Use common sense, work on your inner beauty and be realistic."

Touching on the difficulties the American economy is facing, the Dalai Lama stated that too much emphasis is being placed on it rather than other values. "At such [a] period, you must remember America as the champion of liberty, freedom, democracy […] These values [are] still there. [As] the greatest democratic country, you have the moral responsibility [of] global responsibility," he said.

Ryan Montero, junior psychology major, thought he was funny, very in tune with the crowed and agreed with him, saying, "As Americans, we have more responsibility to promote democracy in the world."

The Dalai Lama said, in conclusion, he was touched by the global reaction to the tragedy in Haiti and believes the world is becoming much more civilized. "Compared [to] the early part of the century, I think much has changed, people have been forced to think. I think, still, we need some effort, a global universal responsibility. Sense of global responsibility is growing. We simply need to educate," he said.

For more information on other speakers coming to NSU soon, click here.

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