Dalai Lama gets honorary degree
The Dhamma Times, 19 September 2004
The Dalai Lama brought his spiritual lessons to thousands in Davie Saturday on the first day of his South Florida tour.
By Evan S. Benn
Miami Herald, United States - The Dalai Lama, a world renowned spiritual leader revered for his compassion and humanity, evoked tears, laughter and thunderous applause Saturday at his first South Florida appearance since 1999.
"Just being in his presence is a wonderful feeling. He is so, so special," Gayle Coursol said after the Dalai Lama's hour-long speech at Nova Southeastern University in Davie.
The Lake Worth woman was among about 7,000 people who endured the scorching heat to hear Tenzin Gyatso, 69, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, talk about universal responsibility, tolerance and the true meaning of happiness.
''I believe happiness is not necessarily the feeling of pleasure, but a deep satisfaction [within oneself],'' the Dalai Lama said from a plush chair on an outdoor stage.
The Buddhist spiritual leader, wearing a customary burgundy-and-gold robe and flip-flop sandals, received an honorary degree at the beginning of the event from Nova President Ray Ferrero Jr.
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George L. Hanbury, executive vice president of administration for NSU, stands by as the Dalai Lama addresses the crowd.
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The visit marked the start of five days of public talks and religious teachings by the Dalai Lama in Broward and Miami-Dade counties; it was his first-ever appearance in Broward County.
"The Dalai Lama's message has stayed the same for as long as I can remember: Fill your life with love and compassion, and don't be controlled by anger or money," said Michael Moses, a musician who has composed songs for Tibetan-awareness events.
The Dalai Lama walked onto the stage with his hands pressed together in front of his chest. He smiled, bowed his head and spoke briefly in his native Tibetan language. A translator interpreted his words for the crowd.
"A few days before I was making this trip, there were some worries in my mind whether or not this part of your region would be spared the horrors of the hurricanes," the Dalai Lama said in Tibetan. "But at least in this part of the Florida state, it seems that you have been spared. So it's nice to see smiles on your faces."
The exiled monarch then spoke in English about human values and the importance of not dwelling on negative emotions such as anger and jealousy. A fellow Buddhist monk stood behind him, holding an open umbrella to block the sun. Medics treated 12 people at the event for heat-exposure problems.
Lama Ngawang Tsultrim, who runs the Dhongak Tharling Buddhist Dharma Center in New Orleans, traveled with two other monks and a nun to see the Dalai Lama speak on Saturday. They gave the Dalai Lama's entourage a kata, a white scarf, as a traditional Tibetan offering.
The Dalai Lama received a standing ovation at the end of his talk. He then answered questions that audience members had written on notecards as they entered the event.
The heady interrogatives included "What is one's purpose on Earth?" and "How can each one of us stop the war in Iraq?''
His answer to the question about a person's purpose in life, a humble "I don't know," drew laughter from most in attendance.
But Dixie Knoebel of Fort Lauderdale said she would have liked to have heard a different response from the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize winner.
"I thought he'd say our purpose is to help other people," Knoebel said. "That's a big part of what I feel in his spiritual message."
 Thousands attend Dalai Lama's talk in Florida
The Dhamma Times, 19 September 2004
Sun-Sentinel, United States - About 10,000 people turned out Saturday to hear the world's best-known Buddhist, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, bring a message of "human affection and loving kindness" on his first stop in a five-day South Florida visit.
On a picture-perfect but hot morning, the exiled leader of Tibet took the stage in a temporary outdoor amphitheater at Nova Southeastern University in Davie, urging his listeners to transform society one person at a time, drawing on religious and ethical values.
"So often, we look for external things -- money or influence or friends -- and neglect the inner life," he told his listeners. "Human affection and loving kindness, I believe, are the most important values.
"You can make happiness from inside yourself, then your family. Then you can transform the big human family on the planet, without a government program."
The Dalai Lama, 69, spoke on the first leg of a three-week tour of Caribbean and Latin American nations, which also will take him to two other local universities and a sports arena. He had come to Nova on a combined invitation from the university and Gov. Jeb Bush.
The Dalai Lama showed his signature grandfatherly charm, smiling and clasping his hands in humility as he mounted the stage amid the first of several standing ovations.
Sometimes speaking for himself, sometimes through an interpreter, he made several jokes about his English and level of learning.
As university President Ray Ferrero Jr. presented an honorary doctorate of humane letters, the Dalai Lama remarked that he had received many such degrees from various schools. "Despite this, I cannot say that my knowledge is increasing," he said, drawing laughs.
Sometimes he still struggles with occasional feelings of anger and jealousy, he confessed. "But they are like visitors, not permanent residents. Like waves caused by a hurricane, turbulent on the ocean; but underneath, always calm," he said.
He said values can be cultivated by both religious and nonreligious people, either by loving God and loving others, or by "looking inside and recognizing your own good values."
During a Q&A section, he answered questions submitted by the audience in advance. He advocated a cultural freedom for Tibet within the larger Chinese culture -- calling it a "middle way" between Tibetan independence and Chinese domination. Religious freedom and freedom of information are indispensable, he added.
On how to pursue peace in the face of war, he confessed to having no simple answers. But he did call for a "broader point of view," a recognition that all nations are interdependent and must work together.
"We must create more compassionate families and societies; that's the only way," he said. "Then we will see that my interests are connected to theirs."
He also said he had suggested to Vaclav Havel, the former president of Czechoslovakia, that a corps of Nobel laureates could meet national leaders who were on the brink of war. "They would come as individuals, representing not a government but themselves and humanity, so they could be trusted," he said.
A couple of questions, though, he ducked with an "I don't know," drawing more laughs. One was in answer to "What is our purpose on Earth?"
His longer answer: "Philosophers and scientists are investigating that. And I, too, as a Buddhist think on it. But in daily life, sometimes such questions are not that relevant." He said "we are here," implying: What are we going to do about it?
In the opinion of one Vancouver scholar attending the Nova gathering, the Dalai Lama's message is less striking than his example.
"When you watch him speak, he has an authenticity about him," said Victor Chan, about the man he has known since 1972. "He has learned his Buddhist lessons for 50 years and wants to help others realize them."
Chan, author of the new book The Wisdom of Forgiveness, was amazed himself that the Dalai Lama has forgiven China for invading Tibet. "He has lost his country; so many of his people have died; yet he has forgiven the Chinese people."
Although the topic was love, police and government agents took no chances with safety. The entire campus was fenced off, and guards ran metal detector wands over everyone who entered. Cooperating in the guard duty were Davie police, Broward sheriff's deputies and U.S. State Department's Diplomatic Security Service, and the Dalai Lama's own small security force.
Buddhist symbols were abundant. Tibetan prayer flags -- red, blue, yellow, green, white -- adorned the handrails to the stage. A hundred visiting dignitaries were given katas, white silken scarves, that had been blessed by the Dalai Lama. Even the scraps of the katas were carefully folded and slipped into press kits for the media.
The most prominent symbol, of course, was the 600-pound brass prayer wheel on the stage. Standing 4 feet high, it was made in Dharamsala, India, by nine people over six months. Inside it was rolled a parchment with a million prayers, printed in Sanskrit that had been carved into wooden blocks.
After his speech, the Dalai Lama said a blessing over the huge artifact and turned it, spinning out prayers for compassion, according to Tibetan tradition. A peg on the rim struck a small bell, making it ping with every turn. After Saturday, the prayer wheel was to be moved to a permanent berth in the university library.
More than 10,000 people showed up, according to university officials. Before the main speaker arrived, the casually dressed crowd left behind their cell phones and air conditioning, sitting patiently in the heat, listening to a Sound of Music medley by the Nova Singers. Some picked up free bottles of water from a booth as the heat increased closer to the noon hour.
Neither storms nor traffic deterred some people from attending.
"Nothing was going to stop me," said Merle Wexler, a social worker from Coconut Grove who had skirted two crashes on Interstate 95. "I believe very much in what he says, that you should focus on the spiritual, not the concrete."
Valerie Cooper-Williams had just flown in from Nassau, where she had been helping relatives clean up hurricane damage, and rushed to Nova to see the Dalai Lama -- and was rewarded with an autograph when he picked her out of the crowd.
He scrawled a phrase on her photo of the Potala Palace in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet and told her it said, "Bless you, Valerie."
"I love him so much," she said tearfully. "The world needs more compassion. I needed to hear what he said, that it's possible."
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