Hiroshima: Tibet's spiritual and political leader, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama reached Hiroshima city this morning (11 November) after the successful completion of two-days program at Niihama in Shikoku island.
A group of Japanese and foreign media people greeted His Holiness the Dalai Lama at the Hotel. Replying to a question from media, His Holiness said, "this is my fourth time in Hiroshima, the city is the reminder to the world about the destructive nature of war and nuclear weapon. Hiroshima has experienced atom bomb and lot of destruction. I am happy to be here for the peace conference organized by Nobel Laureates. Nuclear weapon is outdated, just as a fire cannot extinguish fire, our inner fire that is anger and hatred cannot be pacified or extinguished by war and nuclear weapons." Said His Holiness.
When asked about a message to the APEC leaders, who are scheduled to meet in Yokohama the following days to discuss the trade and economy of the regions. His Holiness said he has nothing special to say, "however, I would like to remind everyone that although material development and money generating economics are important, it is not all for human welfare and peace. Promotion of fundamentals of human value and democracy are equally important in order to establish a lasting peace and prosperity in the regions."
In the afternoon, His Holiness gave a public teaching on "Karma and Law of Causality" to some 2000 monks and laypeople including many foreigners at Hiroshima Bunka Kaikan Hall. The organizers offered long life prayer of Mandala offering to His Holiness in the hall.
His Holiness began the teaching by saying that we all are same in a sense that we all desire happiness and avoid suffering. "But suffering is a part of our life, source of suffering is our Karma and the mental afflictions. We cannot eliminate suffering by praying fervently to Buddha. Our teacher, Buddha has taught us the path to the cessation of suffering. We must follow this path if we want to eliminate suffering.
"Love and compassion is basic requirement, whether one is Buddhist or not, whether one is believer or not, love and compassion is the essence of our survival. We started our life from the love of our mother and the people around us. Just as you live and grow by love, others too need love to live and grow. Buddhist concept of Karma and law of causality is based on doing good deeds of love and compassion to help the sentient beings." Said His Holiness.
After giving an extensive teaching on law of causality, His Holiness invited questions from the audience and offered explanation and guidance accordingly. People asked about the existence of consciousness, individual sufferings, state of the world etc.
Lastly, His Holiness advised that the Japanese people are in a unique position to spread the message of peace, "you have suffered greatly, but you rebuilt your nation into a modern, peaceful and highly developed nation, now to go globally you need to learn English." Said His Holiness evoking great laughter from the audience.
Tomorrow, His Holiness the Dalai Lama will attend the first day of the 11th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, in which some ten Nobel Laureates and imminent peace activists and promoters are scheduled to discuss and deliberate on "A World Without Nuclear Weapons".
