World Tibet Network News Thursday, May 14, 1998
Tibetan leader, on his 4th visit to Madison, calls for eliminating the weapons
By Fran Bauerand Tom Heinen
of the Journal Sentinel staff
Milwaukee Journal Sentinial
May 14, 1998
Madison -- In his first public appearance since India exploded nuclear weapons in underground tests, the Dalai Lama expressed sadness and called for the worldwide elimination of nuclear weapons.
But Tibet's exiled spiritual and political leader stopped short of criticizing his adopted homeland, India. Instead, he questioned why it is considered permissible for some large nations to have nuclear weapons.
"There is sometimes the concept, a few nations OK to possess nuclear weapons (and) the rest of the world should not," he said during a news conference in the state Capitol with Gov. Tommy Thompson seated at his side. "That's undemocratic. If bigger nations have the right to possess, then India is a bigger nation."
But the real solution may be the one proposed by China, he said, since that country has called for a complete elimination of nuclear weapons worldwide.
"That's a proper way to pursue this," he said, adding, "I'm quite sure if total elimination of nuclear weapons comes, India will definitely join."
Tenzin Gyatso, Tibet's 14th Dalai Lama, was in Madison on the final stop in a tour of four U.S. cities to spread his philosophy of non-violence and to gain support for his efforts to halt Chinese oppression of his people.
His visit here, to be mostly occupied with teaching about meditation, also included a speech Wednesday to the Legislature and state officials, and another speech to 13,000 people at the Kohl Center.
During the speech in the Assembly chamber, the Dalai Lama delivered his message of peace, compassion and inner harmony to an audience that agreed it had a lot to learn from the spiritual leader.
"His message has meaning for everybody," Thompson said after the speech. "What he's saying is we're all different but we're all the same. If we work together, we'll get things done."
Before a crowd not exactly known for inner peace, the Dalai Lama told a joint session of the Legislature that people need to pay more attention to their spiritual development and that human compassion is the key to achieving inner peace.
"The various religious traditions have the potential to bring happiness, mainly inner happiness, inner peace," he said.
He said the main messages of all the world's major traditional religions are similar: Have a good heart, a sense of caring, a sense of community, and be patient, tolerant and content.
"We have a lot to learn from him," said Rep. Rosemary Potter (D-Milwaukee), who invited the Dalai Lama to speak to legislators. "He says don't be afraid of contradictions. Compromise, be compassionate and you can get a lot done. We need a lot more of that."
The man himself was the message later Wednesday, as the Dalai Lama used gentle humility, vigorous gesture and spritely humor to captivate the crowd at the Kohl Center.
Speaking at times with the help of a translator, he could not always be clearly heard or fully understood in the cavernous facility. But his electric smile and down-to-earth playfulness communicated something that transcended the spoken word - his humanity.
His theme was that love and compassion are vital for human happiness. And he stressed how religion, especially Buddhism, can enhance those qualities and lift them to higher levels.
The audience burst into loud applause several times, including when he said that education likes to develop the brain but it doesn't pay enough attention to developing the heart.
People gave him a standing ovation when he criticized the United Nations and said, "We need an organization that truly represents people, we need a body that represents world humanity."
Hours earlier he lived out that philosophy while leaving a reception for legislators in the state Capitol. He paused near a stairway to kneel at the wheelchair of Alison Sullivan, 15, a Milwaukee girl who is severely disabled by a degenerative neurological disorder. Then he pressed his head to hers as a form of blessing and held her hands.
Alison is unable to speak, but her sister, Mia, 13, spoke for both of them as she later exclaimed, "Wow! I don't know what he said, and she can't tell us. . .. I think he's very funny, and I like his smile a lot," she added.
Their father, Michael, said the family is Buddhist and came to hear the Dalai Lama speak to the legislators from the overhead gallery.
In a prepared speech, which was distributed to legislators and members of the press but not delivered by the Dalai Lama, he talked about more political issues.
He said he was glad President Clinton is going to China because it will provide an opportunity for the president to raise concerns about human rights abuses and Tibet.
Changes already are beginning to happen in China, the Tibetan leader said in a news conference before his speech. It was his fourth visit to Madison.
The Dalai Lama was forced to flee his homeland in 1959 after the Chinese takeover escalated into a major uprising. There are signs that freedom of speech and human rights are improving there, he said. And there seems to be a growing support for the Dalai Lama's attempts to take a moderate approach -- asking not for Tibetan independence but rather for an autonomous state that could elect its own leaders.
Should that day ever come, the Dalai Lama later told the Legislature, he was prepared to step down and let elected leaders rule a newly autonomous Tibet.
But though long-range prospects look promising for Tibet, in the short run the Dalai Lama said that he had heard of continuing reports that Buddhism was being quashed in his homeland, and the culture there destroyed.
Amy Rinard of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.