Dalai Lama: 'Hope for the Best - Prepare for the Worst'

Interview by Matthias von Hein

On the sidelines of his visit to Hamburg, the Dalai Lama talked exclusively to DW about his optimism for Tibet, the situation in Iraq and Syria, and the growing number of Tibetan Buddhists in China.


DW: Your Holiness, China is becoming more powerful, both economically and politically. Beijing is also using its power to increasingly isolate you – the face of the struggle for meaningful Tibetan autonomy. What do you think: If China had been that powerful already in 1989, would you have been awarded the Nobel peace prize?

Dalai Lama: I have completely retired from my political responsibilities since 2011. The nature of your question is rather political. However, since you ask that question: Yes, the People's Republic of China is gaining more strength economically and militarily. But, in the meantime, we can see that a number of Chinese very much support our basic rights because we are not seeking independence.
We decided as early as 1974 that we are not seeking independence. We just try to seek those rights that are mentioned in the constitution. These should be implemented. That's our request. So, therefore, a number of Chinese intellectuals fully support us – including Liu Xiaobo (awarded the Nobel peace prize in 2010 and currently serving an 11 year prison sentence).
During the last four years we noticed about 1000 articles in Chinese, some written by Chinese inside China, some outside, which fully support our 'middle way' approach. They are very critical about their own government's policy. So this is not our criticism. It is criticism within the Chinese community.
On top of that, there is quite a large Buddhist population in China. About three or four years ago, a Chinese university carried out a survey about how many Buddhists there are in mainland China. They came up with a figure of more than 300 million. Many of these Buddhists are educated people. And nowadays more and more Chinese Buddhists really show interest in Tibetan Buddhism. Even a number of Chinese Communist Party members, officials, even high officials are showing interest in Tibetan Buddhism.
Then on the practical level: The Chinese government is very much concerned about the image of China. The military, the economy alone cannot make a constructive contribution to world affairs. The People's Republic of China needs moral authority, more respect, more trust from the outside world. And the Chinese people themselves are very much concerned about the image of China, too. Many Chinese told me, that even though their country has over 1.3 billion inhabitants, it is lacking moral authority or moral power.
But now, President Xi Jinping is seriously tackling corruption. And also recently during his visit in Europe, in Paris, Xi openly stated, that Buddhism has a very important role for Chinese culture. So Buddhists should take more responsibility. For me this is something very unusual: A communist leader publicly praising or making a positive remark about Buddhism. So things are changing.

But, your Holiness, do you see any improvements on the ground in Tibet?

Our struggle is the struggle between the power of the gun and the power of truth. In the short run, the power of the gun is much stronger, very decisive. But in the long run, the power of truth is much stronger. I believe that. Already there are some signs that Chinese leaders or intellectuals now raise questions whether the existing policy is really helpful in the long run to the interest of the People's Republic of China. So things are changing.
But, up to now, my impression is that the Chinese leadership is still thinking that the way to deal with ethnic minorities in Tibet or in Xinjiang is repression and investment. That is their twofold approach.
Investment is good. But at the same time they should be seriously concerned about the environment. The use of force is often counterproductive no matter how sincere the motivation is. Look at the Iraq crisis and President Bush. I know that his motivation was very good: Democracy in Iraq. But the method was wrong. So, unexpected consequences happened. In China there is basically a similar situation.
Talking about Iraq, this brings me to a question that is troubling a lot of people in Germany right now. It is the question of how to deal with the "Islamic State."

You are loved and respected the world over because your approach is dialogue and tolerance. But now in Germany we are debating whether Germany should supply weapons to the Kurds in Northern Iraq to fight the "Islamic State" – which would be a breach with former policies. What do you do if dialogue fails or if the other is not ready for dialogue?

I am student of Buddhist psychology. And I am also a firm believer in the law of causality. There are these unthinkable, sad events: The killings of human beings, mercilessly, including children, women. I believe this is the result of certain causes. The Iraq crisis: If the American policy in order to topple Saddam Hussein had been carried out in a more non-violent way, I think, the situation today would probably be a little better. I believe this unthinkable crisis in the beginning of the 21st century is the result of the mistakes of previous centuries.

So, what would be your advice?

Basically I say: It is much better and safer not to use violence. But now the reality is: So many people are suffering. If the world remains indifferent, that would be also immoral, too. The best thing would be to try to talk. If that fails, according to the reality, according to circumstances…That´s very difficult to judge.
Coming back to Tibet, you sounded very optimistic about the prospects of positive change in Tibet through the Chinese government side. So are you optimistic yourself to be able to visit Tibet, see Lhasa and the Potala?

Watching China for more than 60 years, I describe four eras: the Mao Zedong era, the Deng Xiaoping era, the Jiang Zemin era and the Hu Jintao era. Within these four eras a lot of changes happened. The Mao Zedong era put very much emphasis on ideology. Then the Deng Xiaoping era:
He considered the economy, the living standard to be more important than just the ideology. So he did not hesitate to follow a more market-oriented economy, or even capitalism. Then Jiang Zemin: He discovered that because of the new reality, the Communist Party was no longer a party of working class people. So he created the concept of the "Three Represents." Wealthier people and intellectuals were admitted into the party.

In the Mao Zedong era that would have been unthinkable. Then came the Hu Jintao era. Because of the growing gap between rich and poor he emphasized the promotion of the "Harmonious Society". So, the same party, confronted with a new reality had the ability to take some new initiatives, develop a new thinking.

When Hu Jintao announced the "Harmonious Society," I fully supported that. But ten years passed and I think as far as "harmony" is concerned, things worsened. The goal, the motivation was good. But the method? They used force. The Chinese government's budget for internal security is bigger than the defense budget. I think there are about 200 nations on this planet. But I don't think any nation's budget for internal security is bigger than the defense budget.

But Xi Jinping, his policy, his actions, seem more realistic. As Deng Xiaoping stated: "Seek truth from facts." I think the new leadership follows that advice: seeking truth from facts. The late Hu Yaobang (reform-minded, liberal Communist Party general secretary 1980 – 1987) followed that approach. President Xi Jinping seems to be in favor of that approach.

When Hu Yaobang visited Lhasa in the early 1980's, his public speeches and comments were very realistic. At that time, everybody developed great hope. I still believe, if Hu Yaobang had remained in power for a longer time, the Tibet issue would have already been solved. Xi Jinping seems to follow that same sort of more realistic approach. So there is some hope. In any way: It is better to remain with hope and in the meantime better prepare for the worst.
Thank you very much your Holiness.

The interview was conducted by Matthias von Hein.


original link and photos: http://www.dw.de/dalai-lama-hope-for-the-best-prepare-for-the-worst/a-17877704

Dalai Lama on ‘Educating the Heart’

Cambridge, England, 19 April 2013 - His Holiness the Dalai Lama is a guest of the Global Scholars Symposium which allows current world leaders to interact with young academics who are striving to meet the great challenges of global society. He is staying in the Master’s Lodge of St John’s College, Cambridge and this morning walked through the College to the Divinity school to his first engagements of the day.

To start with he gave an interview to Cathy Newman of Channel 4 News, who mixed questions about general news stories such as gun control in the USA with questions related to Tibet. She asked His Holiness to explain his praise for the courage of those who have committed self-immolation in Tibet. He replied that right from the start he had described his sadness over these events, but also expressed his doubts about their effectiveness. He reiterated that he has no alternative to offer and that it is for the Chinese authorities to launch an objective investigation of the causes of these events and to act accordingly. With regard to China itself he said:

“Nowadays the world trend is towards greater openness, democracy and the rule of law; if China wants to participate more fully in the world it will have to follow this trend. The harmonious society that Hu Jintao aspired to create is admirable, but it can only be created on the basis of warm-heartedness, not fear; fear is the opposite of harmony.”

He acknowledged that a lot of development has taken place in Tibet, which is good, but pointed out that freedom is also important.

“We are not animals. If you give animals food and shelter they are happy. Tibetans have a rich and ancient Buddhist culture, which is of value, but which is presently under dire threats to its existence.”

His Holiness said: “The source of happiness is compassion although it doesn’t necessarily have any connection to religion. It can be based on our common experience, common sense and scientific findings. Promoting human happiness along these lines is my first commitment. My second relates to religious traditions, their common message of compassion and forgiveness, and encouraging respect among them. Thirdly, I am a Tibetan and someone in whom the Tibetan people place their trust, so if need be I have to be prepared to speak out freely on their behalf.”

With regard to the Chinese, he stated that 1.3 billion people have a right to know about reality, and censorship interferes with this. Once they recognise reality, they have the ability to judge what’s right from what’s wrong.

It was a short distance, after lunch, to Trinity Hall, where His Holiness met a group of Chinese students who are studying in Britain.

“Brothers and sisters - I always begin my talks in this way because it is one of my fundamental beliefs that we are social creatures, physically, mentally and emotionally the same.”

He remarked that many people are concerned about the prevalence of material values, which seems to have a link to the shocking increase in suicide among young people. In this context, transparency in your work brings about trust and friendship, which leads to a happy life. This depends on recognising that other human beings are just like us.

Noting that the twentieth century was an era of bloodshed, His Holiness recommended that we try to make this century an era of peace, which is not to say there will be no problems, there will, but the question is how we solve them. In relation to the problems of Tibet, he said:

“We are seeking meaningful autonomy. When the Chinese government objects that we are seeking a Greater Tibet, my retort is that we do not use that term. We have to solve these differences through dialogue. We want the central government to give us the ethnic minority rights mentioned in the Chinese constitution.”

One student wanted to know how you can have a dialogue with someone pretending to be asleep. His Holiness said that dealing with the government is one thing, but he also believes in reaching out to the people. He said he tells Tibetans that Chinese are their neighbours and that they will have to live together side by side.

“Let’s wait and see how things change and whether the government will adopt a more realistic, holistic view. At the moment by maintaining censorship in China, the government are in effect fooling the people. Such deception is essentially self-defeating.”

At the beginning of the meeting, when the students were invited to ask questions only one or two hands went up; by the end, more than a dozen still had points to raise when time ran out.

Returning to St John’s College, His Holiness addressed a more general meeting of members of the University of Cambridge on the theme, ‘Educating the Heart.’

“Respected brothers and sisters, it’s a privilege to speak to you today. I was born in a distant village in Tibet and never saw my mother show an angry face. She showered me with affection. From her I first learned about showing others compassion, an experience later reinforced by my training as a Buddhist monk.

“People want to live a peaceful happy life, but don’t find it because they are not realistic in their approach. When we are too self-centred, we tend to see other people in terms of ‘them’ and ‘us’ which is divisive and unhelpful. Nowadays, scientists say that a healthy body requires a healthy mind, so just as we adopt physical hygiene to protect our health, we also need a sense of emotional hygiene too.”

He pointed out that ancient Indian literature contains an immense store of knowledge about the workings of the mind. Science is beginning to gather evidence that people meditating on compassion do experience measurable changes in their brains and their health improves. Today, in order to make compassion available to everyone we need to develop a system of secular ethics. We need a map of the emotions, because dealing with our emotions, especially the destructive emotions, is the key to a healthier mind.

“When you have greater compassion and inner strength, you have more confidence, which gives rise to trust, transparency and friendliness.”

Back at the Master’s Lodge, before he turned in for the day, the St John’s College choir sang delightfully for His Holiness. The young choristers’ faces, so serious while they sang, lit up when he came forward to shake each of their hands and thank them.

original link with photos: http://www.dalailama.com/news/post/935-meetings-and-talk-on-educating-the-heart-in-cambridge-england