Basavanagudi, February 01: “Prayer will not bring us to our goal,” said the Dalai Lama while addressing a mixed audience of Tibetans, Indians and expatriates at the National College Grounds in Basavanagudi on Sunday.
The Tibetan spiritual leader, who was invited by the Choe Khor Sum Ling Study Group to give a speech on ‘Finding Happiness in Troubled Times’, stressed on the importance of dialogue between nations in order to realise the ultimate goal of world peace.
The 76-year-old monk, who also addressed a large gathering at St. Joseph’s College of Arts & Science earlier in the day, interspersed his speech with jokes and anecdotes. His reprimand to fellow Tibetans was couched in humorous language: “There is a sacred mantra of the Avalokiteshvara that Tibetans chant — Om mani padme hung. When you say it fast, it sounds like O money money money… So nowadays, some Tibetans worship money, particularly, dollars. Hundreds of Tibetans emigrate illegally to America, Canada and Europe, not for seeking spirituality, but for seeking dollars. In that case, they could have remained within the People’s Republic of China!”
While highlighting the guru-chela relationship between India and Tibet, His Holiness made a subtle dig at the guru in the relationship, saying, “I always tell my Indian friends, we are not only chelas, but we are reliable chelas because while the Nalanda tradition was lost in your own land, we Tibetans have kept the tradition alive until now. So now, it is the guru’s turn to take a more active role in helping his chela.”
The spiritual leader advocated secular ethics rather than turning to God or religion in one’s efforts to achieve true happiness. “We all have the same potential or Buddha nature within us,” he stated.
Source: Flashnewstoday