From: owner-tsg-l@VM1.MCGILL.CA
By Bruce Finley [Today's News]
Denver Post Staff Writer [The Denver Post Online]
June 1 - Tibet's Dalai Lama gripped a yellow shovel and tilled the earth with hundreds of teenagers Saturday morning, planting the seeds of compassion that he
recommends for human survival. The teenagers gaped in awe at the grinning 61-year-old monk.
Even when dealing with perpetrators of the Oklahoma City bombing, or Chinese agents of "cultural genocide" in his homeland, the only effective response "is through compassion, without losing compassion," the Dalai Lama said during the PeaceJam Youth Conference at Regis University in Denver.
"If we let out anger, hatred of people, what use? The result is more frustration in our own minds, perhaps more nights of sleeplessness." It was the start of a
long weekend in which the Dalai Lama, the political and religious leader of Tibetans and a Nobel Peace Prize winner, is teaching compassion to as many Americans as possible.
He moved on from the 200 young PeaceJam participants around noon to a private meal of beef medallions, then to a downtown hotel for rest, and then to the University of Colorado in Boulder for an evening speech. The Dalai Lama is scheduled to continue his three-day Colorado tour today with appearances in Boulder and an interfaith service at McNichols Arena in Denver.
Everywhere he went Saturday, his eyes were peeled, ears on alert, mind curious about things in his path.
Riding through Denver in the passenger seat of a limousine, he pointed out the window at the snow-covered Rocky Mountains and told the chauffeur they reminded him of mountains back home in Tibet, before he was evicted by Chinese soldiers in 1959.
In traffic, he looked out the window again and observed: "Most of the cars, just one person." At Regis, he took up that subject with the teenagers, referring to the rapidly rising incomes in China and India. "Now, 2 billion cars?" he said to the teenagers. "Is that difficult to imagine? Sooner or later, we have to make
new adjustment. That's reality. Put that in your mind."
Sitting under a pine-green umbrella at Regis, he stroked 15-year-old Angelique Whalen's dyed, poppy-red hair, which nearly matched his claret robe.
"I felt really lucky," she said after meeting the Dalai Lama. "He touched me!"
For much of Saturday, the Dalai Lama devoted special attention to young people - the ones he says have the future in their hands. So he answered question after
question from them in a special session at Regis. Could a woman become a Dalai Lama? ("Certainly, yes.'') What would he do if he had a day to visit his native Tibet? ("Only one day? Enjoy the fresh air. Look up at the blue sky. And relax.'')
He patiently shared his ideas.
* On neighborhood disputes: "If you remain relaxed, peaceful, happy, I think, neighbor getting more worried." But if you grow angry or agitated, "neighbor
may be very happy, without ever touching your body. . .. If compassion won't help, better to run away."
* Raising children: "Unrest very harmful for the unborn child. . . . The human body very much need affection. Without affection of someone, there is no possibility to survive."
* On psychiatrists facing angry, stressed-out patients: "The wise doctor would say: 'Try to be calm. Let go.' "
* On Westerners converting to Buddhism: "It is better to follow your own tradition, including your (Judeo-Christian) religious tradition," he said.
"Changing tradition is not easy, and sometimes makes an unhappy situation."
* On kids at home: "In your home, people like your age, I think, sometimes becoming troublemaker." Greater happiness will result from "energy transformed in a positive way."
* On economics: "One thing that needs serious thought is our obsession, in the economic field, with growth. . . .I very much favor socialism rather than capitalism. . .. In certain situations, I call myself a Marxist."
* On the future: "We can't control time. . . . My generation, we are beginning to say 'goodbye, this world.' Now you are the people, the future is your hands. . . . It is possible to work hard for common good. Think. Think more. If the whole society faces some problem, then one individual can't escape from that. .
. Government can't do much. . . . I was much inspired while you were planting the flowers."
Some of the teenagers were practically tearful; they said the man seemed remarkable, almost magic. "If everyone had the chance to meet him like I just did, we could probably achieve world peace," said 16-year-old Nick Fisher of Boulder.
Throughout the day, the Dalai Lama, chosen at age 2 as the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama, emphasized the importance of hope. Even when it comes to his greatest fear, Chinese annihilation of Tibetan culture, he insisted "there is hope." A seemingly irreversible erosion of Tibetan daily life, from food to respect for the land, "does not mean no hope," he said.
He referred to Chinese students and intellectuals who contribute to a critique from within Chinese society. He said international exchanges and the Internet can foster gradual change by spreading ideas in China. He said U.S. President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who "seems very clear and very straightforward," have expressed their concern for Tibet.
Confronting China aggressively is not the right approach, said the Dalai Lama, who did not oppose Clinton's recent decision to grant China "most-favored-nation" status on trade. Rather, the monk called for an engaged, friendly relationship that might encourage greater respect for Tibetans.
At Regis, the Dalai Lama said everything comes down to human nature, which is basically positive, not aggressive and destructive.
"Whether you believe basic human nature is positive or negative, that is up to you," he said. "I don't want to argue." Yet he couldn't resist a little experiment. He asked all the teenagers who believe human nature is basically positive to raise their hands. He grinned widely at the response.
"And those who feel human nature is negative?" No hands went up.
The writer can be reached through newsroom@denverpost.com.
