Dalai Lama delivers key note speech at second day of the Global Buddhist Summit in Delhi

By Tenzin Nyidon

DHARAMSHALA, April 22: The Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama delivered the key note speech at the second day of the first Global Buddhist Summit on “Contribution of the Buddha Dharma and the Sangha Towards World Peace” in New Delhi organised by International Buddhist Confederation (IBC) on Friday. The international summit was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday and attended by over 170 delegates from 30 countries including revered Lamas, Tulkus, political leaders and other dignitaries.

The exiled spiritual leader emphasised on the importance of studying Buddhist teachings and said, “Having studied the Buddhist treatises on wisdom and compassion written by great Indian masters, I have personally found them impactful while in Tibet and especially, ever since coming into exile. I have found these teachings to be powerful particularly, focusing on wisdom and compassion.”

The octogenarian leader also spoke about how studying Buddhist philosophies and imbibing the values have given him the courage to face Tibet’s struggle and its current situation. “For example, in the case of my dealing with the current struggle and situation of Tibet, if you just think only about it from a narrow-angle, you can lose hope. But if you look at this crisis, this current situation, from the broader perspective of the courage that the cultivation of Bodhicitta (mind of awakening) and compassion give you, then you can have a much more resilient mind,” the spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism added.

In 2011, the Dalai Lama addressed a similar conference in New Delhi and it was reported that the Chinese authorities had demanded that the Dalai Lama be prevented from giving the keynote speech at the gatherings attended by more than 9,000 delegates which the Indian officials refused. Following the refusal to comply with their demand, Beijing cancelled its talks on the scheduled border issues.

Indian media reported that not a single Buddhist delegate from China have attended the meet despite having the largest population of Buddhists in the world of close to 250 million followers.