Toronto: Tibet's political and spiritual leaders, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama spoke to a packed crowd of thousands of people, Friday (22nd October) at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, the capital of Canada.
Throughout the 1 1/2 hour long talk, His Holiness connected world peace with happiness and health and called for the world to have a "calm mind." He also spoke on a multitude of topics including; compassion, the new generation, peace and the possibility of a woman Dalai Lama.
Addressing the younger members of the crowd the Tibetan leader said "You, the younger generation who belongs to the 21st century, have many responsibilities to bring some peace to the world, some compassion to the world. The main responsibility is on your shoulders."
In the war-torn first half of the 20th century, His Holiness said, governments used force to settle differences. Too often, national boundaries were used to obscure "the oneness of human beings - that (there is) not much difference between this nation and that nation."
Overcoming the sometimes violent divide requires dialogue. He added that "Destruction of one part of the world is destruction of ourselves, others are just a part of ourselves."
"We must promote the concept of dialogue for a happy and peaceful century. Whenever we will see a problem, we should resolve it through dialogue," he said.
The Dalai Lama used his own life as an example - in 1949 China took control of Tibet and in 1959 he was forced to flee to India.
"At 16 I lost my freedom, at the age of 24 I lost my own country. Now, at 75, what I learned is the power of talk. In the spirit of dialogue, you can't (have) one side (that is) defeated and one side win. Open your hearts; consider others."
No one is beyond talking to, he added. After the 9/11 attacks, he said he urged dialogue with Osama Bin Laden to understand "what really is his complaint."
The Dalai Lama answered questions submitted by people on-line, including whether the next, reincarnated Dalai Lama can be female .He laughed saying "if a female reincarnation is more useful - why not?" He suggested there were two advantages to a female Dalai Lama. One is that "biologically, females are more sensitive (than males) about others' pain." The other, he joked, is that she would be more attractive.
His Holiness was also asked if he would consider retirement, "I'm looking forward to complete retirement," he said, laughing. "If I have human rights, I should have the right to retire."
