Helsinki, Finland, 20 August 2011 - The spiritual leade of Tibet, His Holiness the Dalai Lama ended his two-day program in Finland this afternoon with a public talk to an audience of 7,000 people on the subject of "The Power of Compassion."
The capacity crowd at the Barona Arena in Espoo, near Helsinki, warmly received His Holiness' address and the responses that His Holiness gave to the numerous questions that were put to him.
On being informed that a number of young Finns had been invited to join the audience for the public talk, His Holiness directly addressed them to emphasize their central role in making the 21s Century a century of peace and dialogue in contrast to the 20th Century which His Holiness described as the century of war.
His Holiness' first program on Saturday was an audience for a group of around 250 Tibetan Buddhists from Kalmykia. The group had traveled from Russia to attend His Holiness' teachings on "Geshe Langri Thangpa's Eight Verses of Training the Mind" held in the morning of 20 August as well as the public talk in the afternoon. The morning teachings, attended by over 3,500 people, began with chants by monks from Thailand and Vietnam who recited the heart sutra, and by Finnish monks who follow the Korean Buddhism tradition.
On Friday, His Holiness began the day with a joint audience for board members of the Finnish Tibetan Cultural Association, Songtsen, Tibetans and representatives of other Tibet related groups in Finland.
Following this audience, His Holiness traveled to the Pörssiklubi (The Helsinki Bourse Club) for a ‘Meet the Press' event with around 70 members of the Finnish media.
After an hour of detailed responses to numerous questions from the press, His Holiness was welcomed to the Bourse Club by the club's Chairman Mr Mikael Swanljung who led His Holiness upstairs to the member's dining room to address an assembled audience of over 120 members and guests of the club on the subject of ‘Ethics in Business'. The Pörssiklubi was founded almost 100 years ago and is a key institution in Finnish business and political life.
His Holiness' next program on 19 August was to deliver the keynote address at a seminar on "Non-violent Conflict Resolution: The Tibetan Case as an Example" organized by the University of Helsinki. Following the keynote address, His Holiness participated in a discussion with a panel of Tibet and conflict resolution academics and experts. His Holiness concluded a busy day's schedule with a meeting with 20 Finnish Parliamentarians at Parliament.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama's visit to Finland was hosted by the Finnish Tibetan Cultural Association and Songtsen, a Tibetan Buddhist Vajrayana Community in Finland.
His Holiness departs Helsinki for Hamburg, Germany, in the morning of Sunday 21 August.
