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The 14th Dalai Lama’s words for a Better World - The Dalai Lama |
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Written by Sean Waters, for NEXTnc
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Wednesday, 20 September 2006 |
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Page 1 of 3
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Xiaomei Chen | For NEXTnc
The Dalai Lama greets more than 2,000 Buddhist practitioners while visiting the Shambhala Mountain Center west of Fort Collins. His Holiness spoke to the assembly on the importance of compassion in today’s world, and received the first Living Peace Award on Sunday.
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As the 14th Dalai Lama took the stage at the Pepsi Center on Sunday afternoon, the excitement of the sold-out crowd turned into a standing ovation.
Returning the enthusiastic welcome, the Dalai Lama reverently bowed to the audience of 14,000, his glowing smile seemingly large enough to fill the entire Pepsi Center.
Touring North America to encourage the “secular ethic” of peace, hope, and universal responsibility, the Dalai Lama spoke about the importance of compassion in creating and maintaining a better world.
Born in a small town in northern Tibet in 1935, the 14th Dalai Lama was recognized at the age of 2, in accordance with the Tibetan tradition, as the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama.
For Tibetan Buddhists, each dalai lama is the embodiment of the Buddha of Compassion, voluntarily reincarnating to fulfill vows to alleviate the suffering of all sentient beings.
As a leader and inspiration to people around the world, the Dalai Lama’s life is truly astonishing.
Following the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1959, the 14th Dalai Lama led 80,000 Tibetan refugees to India where he became the head of the Tibetan government-in exile. Thirty years later, the Dalai Lama won the Nobel Peace Prize for his dedication to a peaceful resolution to the ongoing conflict with the Chinese. With all his responsibilities, the Dalai Lama still takes time to write books and tour the world promoting the message of peace and compassion.
Speaking in his non-native English, the Dalai Lama opened his Denver talk by joking with the audience about the “modern technology” of the Pepsi Center’s jumbo-screen televisions. Instead of dryly delivering a dogmatic lecture, the 71-year-old Dalai Lama proceeded to get comfortable by comically remarking about his graying eyebrows.
In a deeply inspiring move, he continued to use wit and humor to emphasize his humanity. Despite his achievements, he described himself as a “simple Buddhist monk,” an ordinary human being with extraordinary experiences.
This simple Buddhist monk, however, effectively communicated a message of hope in his talk entitled “The Science of a Compassionate Life.” In his practical, humble, and accessible style, the Dalai Lama maintained that only through the “genuine human feeling” of compassion is it possible to build a better world.
On this Sunday, the light of this better world could be clearly seen in the warm smile of the saffron-robed 14th Dalai Lama.
Sean Waters is a graduate student at Colorado State University, studying philosophy, Buddhism and science. He lives in Fort Collins where he plays guitar in the rock band Wasabi. He can be reached at
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