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Dalai Lama has message of learning
Star Tribune
Monday, April 17, 2006
By Pamela Miller, Star Tribune
Minnesota Tibetans say the Dalai Lama called education the key to honor
their past and to enhance a peaceful future.
Every one of Minnesota's approximately 1,500 Tibetans, as well as hundreds
of others from around the Midwest, turned out Sunday to hear the Dalai Lama
speak at the Minneapolis Convention Center.
Or so it appeared. White prayer scarves -- the khatha -- fluttered in the
warm wind as families in radiant traditional garb, including the chupa, the
traditional Tibetan jumper -- poured into the center. A sea of faces tilted
upward in rapt attention as the 70-year-old Dalai Lama, clad in a wine-red
robe and leaning toward them from a platform awash in flowers, spoke --
entirely in their native language.
No one, it appeared, had any problem with that, except for a few
American-born Buddhists and a hapless reporter or two.
Luckily for them, kindness is a cultural marker of the Tibetan community,
and many patient translators volunteered that the Dalai Lama had two themes:
education and peace.
"He talked about the true meaning of Buddhism, about not just keeping it to
ourselves inside, but sharing it, so people will know us and our culture,"
said Karma Kunsang Sonam, 17, of St. Paul.
And what about that bit near the end when, after 45 solemn, unsmiling
minutes, His Holiness suddenly made everyone laugh uproariously?
"Ah! He said that the next time he sees us, he will quiz us on what he said
and how we are doing with it," Sonam said.
More official types, such as Phuntsok Wangdu, executive director of the
Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota, and Charles Lenz, who presented
the Dalai Lama with a Minnesota Historical Society oral narrative study of
the state's Tibetan immigrants, confirmed Sonam's account.
The Dalai Lama urged the Minnesotans, the second-largest Tibetan community
in the United States (after one in New York), to pursue broad "modern
education" as well as Buddhist studies, and "not just to pray, but to spread
our faith and way of life through hard work," Wangdu said. "We are to
cultivate education and good morals, and to share the peace that starts in
our hearts."
Lenz said the Dalai Lama stressed the interdependency of humankind. On a
more local level, he also praised the sophisticated Tibetan music and dance
education programs in the Twin Cities area.
"He said that not all knowledge is in our heads," Lenz said.
Music and a message
After his speech, the Dalai Lama approached several people personally with
small bows and his trademark radiant smile, including monks from
Minneapolis' Gyuto Wheel of Dharma monastery and Tenzin Ngawang, head music
teacher at the Tibetan American Foundation.
"His Holiness likes [Tibetan] opera very much" and complimented a piece sung
earlier, Ngawang said.
Ngawang Tenzin, a monk from the Gyuto monastery, said the Dalai Lama urged
the exile community to share knowledge about "our lost country": Tibet.
The 14th Dalai Lama, whose common name is Tenzin Gyatso, fled his homeland
in 1959 because of Chinese occupation and repression. He now lives in a
monk's cottage in the 120,000-strong Tibetan refugee community of
Dharamsala, India.
Kalsang Toudon, 40, said she and her husband drove their two sons from
Madison, Wis., home to about 400 Tibetans.
They came, she said, partly "to see how his health is" -- a sentiment
expressed by many in the crowd, though the Dalai Lama appeared vigorous --
and partly, said her husband, Tenzin Sonam, "because he will always be our
leader -- we dream of going back to Tibet someday."
To Wangdu, the Dalai Lama's visit to Minnesota was "the best gift a Tibetan
could have -- more than Christmas, more than New Year's. He is like a mother
to us, a constant spring of hope."
As with most of the Dalai Lama's appearances, this one was awash in good
will. But of late he has spoken in edgier arenas that indicate he is well
aware of global politics beyond those involving Tibet and China.
On Saturday, he met with Muslim leaders in San Francisco to talk about
quelling extremism and advancing the views of moderate Muslims who view
their faith as one of peace and tolerance. The confluence of those two
faiths was, by all accounts, unusual.
Yet on Sunday, in the Convention Center's broad halls, Tibetan Buddhists
mingled comfortably with Somali-Americans and other Muslims who were at the
center for a Muslim-American Society of Minnesota gathering.
Today, the Dalai Lama, who last visited Minnesota in 2001, will speak to
physicians and patients at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester about the
relationship between Buddhist contemplative practices and the neurosciences.
Pamela Miller . 612-673-4290
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World Tibet Network NewsPublished by the Canada Tibet CommitteeMonday, April 17, 2006 |
6. Dalai Lama has message of learning
Star Tribune
Monday, April 17, 2006
By Pamela Miller, Star Tribune
Minnesota Tibetans say the Dalai Lama called education the key to honor
their past and to enhance a peaceful future.
Every one of Minnesota's approximately 1,500 Tibetans, as well as hundreds
of others from around the Midwest, turned out Sunday to hear the Dalai Lama
speak at the Minneapolis Convention Center.
Or so it appeared. White prayer scarves -- the khatha -- fluttered in the
warm wind as families in radiant traditional garb, including the chupa, the
traditional Tibetan jumper -- poured into the center. A sea of faces tilted
upward in rapt attention as the 70-year-old Dalai Lama, clad in a wine-red
robe and leaning toward them from a platform awash in flowers, spoke --
entirely in their native language.
No one, it appeared, had any problem with that, except for a few
American-born Buddhists and a hapless reporter or two.
Luckily for them, kindness is a cultural marker of the Tibetan community,
and many patient translators volunteered that the Dalai Lama had two themes:
education and peace.
"He talked about the true meaning of Buddhism, about not just keeping it to
ourselves inside, but sharing it, so people will know us and our culture,"
said Karma Kunsang Sonam, 17, of St. Paul.
And what about that bit near the end when, after 45 solemn, unsmiling
minutes, His Holiness suddenly made everyone laugh uproariously?
"Ah! He said that the next time he sees us, he will quiz us on what he said
and how we are doing with it," Sonam said.
More official types, such as Phuntsok Wangdu, executive director of the
Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota, and Charles Lenz, who presented
the Dalai Lama with a Minnesota Historical Society oral narrative study of
the state's Tibetan immigrants, confirmed Sonam's account.
The Dalai Lama urged the Minnesotans, the second-largest Tibetan community
in the United States (after one in New York), to pursue broad "modern
education" as well as Buddhist studies, and "not just to pray, but to spread
our faith and way of life through hard work," Wangdu said. "We are to
cultivate education and good morals, and to share the peace that starts in
our hearts."
Lenz said the Dalai Lama stressed the interdependency of humankind. On a
more local level, he also praised the sophisticated Tibetan music and dance
education programs in the Twin Cities area.
"He said that not all knowledge is in our heads," Lenz said.
Music and a message
After his speech, the Dalai Lama approached several people personally with
small bows and his trademark radiant smile, including monks from
Minneapolis' Gyuto Wheel of Dharma monastery and Tenzin Ngawang, head music
teacher at the Tibetan American Foundation.
"His Holiness likes [Tibetan] opera very much" and complimented a piece sung
earlier, Ngawang said.
Ngawang Tenzin, a monk from the Gyuto monastery, said the Dalai Lama urged
the exile community to share knowledge about "our lost country": Tibet.
The 14th Dalai Lama, whose common name is Tenzin Gyatso, fled his homeland
in 1959 because of Chinese occupation and repression. He now lives in a
monk's cottage in the 120,000-strong Tibetan refugee community of
Dharamsala, India.
Kalsang Toudon, 40, said she and her husband drove their two sons from
Madison, Wis., home to about 400 Tibetans.
They came, she said, partly "to see how his health is" -- a sentiment
expressed by many in the crowd, though the Dalai Lama appeared vigorous --
and partly, said her husband, Tenzin Sonam, "because he will always be our
leader -- we dream of going back to Tibet someday."
To Wangdu, the Dalai Lama's visit to Minnesota was "the best gift a Tibetan
could have -- more than Christmas, more than New Year's. He is like a mother
to us, a constant spring of hope."
As with most of the Dalai Lama's appearances, this one was awash in good
will. But of late he has spoken in edgier arenas that indicate he is well
aware of global politics beyond those involving Tibet and China.
On Saturday, he met with Muslim leaders in San Francisco to talk about
quelling extremism and advancing the views of moderate Muslims who view
their faith as one of peace and tolerance. The confluence of those two
faiths was, by all accounts, unusual.
Yet on Sunday, in the Convention Center's broad halls, Tibetan Buddhists
mingled comfortably with Somali-Americans and other Muslims who were at the
center for a Muslim-American Society of Minnesota gathering.
Today, the Dalai Lama, who last visited Minnesota in 2001, will speak to
physicians and patients at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester about the
relationship between Buddhist contemplative practices and the neurosciences.
Pamela Miller . 612-673-4290
Articles in this Issue:
- Dalai Lama Enlisted To Change Islam Image
- Dalai Lama Pleads for Defending Islam
- Islam is a religion of compassion: Dalai Lama
- Giant Mao statue erected in Tibet
- Dalai Lama's Tibet visit likely in July
- Dalai Lama has message of learning
- Fake Tibetan Medicine May Cause Serious Legal Problems
- Don't protest Hu's US visit'
- Seattle Tibetans Not to Demonstrate Hu's Visit
- China's leader to visit Seattle Hu likely will see protests, adulation during Seattle visit
- Hu Jintao grant Tibet's independence
- JUST LISTEN TO KASHAG
- White House Out to Lunch With China Hu Jintao is anxious to please, but the U.S. remains aloof
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