Dharamshala: His Holiness started his U.S tour with a speech at the Bloomington centre in Indiana yesterday. The Dalai Lama spoke on the Heart Sutra is considered by some the best known and most popular of all Buddhist scriptures.
People packed the Indiana University Auditorium Wednesday to get a life lesson from the Dalai Lama. Security was tight for the sold-out lecture, which drew many who heard from the exiled Tibetan leader for the very first time.
According to an audience member at the hearing, His Holiness basically talked about" very fine lines between being selfless, being happy, being compassionate but also being aware of who you are and where you are on the path". This speech drew thousands of people, some of whom drove hundreds and even thousands of miles just to get a glimpse of the Dalai Lama.
The Dalai Lama also called on people to practise religious tolerance, and advised people to look within their own beliefs and faith, before trying to decipher what other faiths had to say. His holiness also touched upon the issue of freedom for Tibet, when he said that he was committed to the middle way path to independence, but also said that as long as the question of history was concerned Tibet was a free nation.
His holiness then attended the launch of a book, ‘Common Ground between Islam & Buddhism' which talks about the common ground shared by Islam and Buddhism in the domains of spirituality and morality. He also said that he was inspired by the meetings he had with Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad of Jordan and their subsequent discussion on the promotion of religious harmony.
The Dalai Lama will now spend another day teaching in Bloomington before taking his message to Indianapolis.
