The spiritual leader told the audience to seek a peaceful resolution to conflict.
BOSTON (AP) – Thousands of devotees of the Dalai Lama gave a spirited reception to the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet on Sunday, who urged the sold-out audience at the FleetCenter to seek peaceful means of resolving conflict.
After a traditional Tibetan music and dance performances, the bespectacled Buddhist leader said children should be taught the value of peaceful conflict-resolution at an early age, and that conflict – even the extreme political violence in the Middle East – could be aided by such dialogue.
“I’ve expressed this many times, that we should try to bring it to curriculum of schools, to instill the basic idea of dialogue, as a means of conflict resolution, for every situation,” he said through a translator.
Religion is important, he said, but urged the audience not to allow the religious beliefs of love, compassion, tolerance and forgiveness to turn into hatred.
“Instead of taking religion as a part of life, or as a way of living, sometimes we take religion as a label, or something we identify with, and we tend to pollute the teachings of religion with our own negative feelings and attitude,” he said.
The leader of the Chinese-occupied Himalayan nation arrived in Massachusetts on Friday as part of a five-city, 20-day U.S. tour timed to coincide with the Sept. 11 anniversary.
He met with President Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell and his top aide on Tibet, Paula Dobriansky, and other top administration officials. Those meetings have irked Chinese officials, who warned the U.S. against meddling in the country’s internal affairs.
On Saturday, he attended a conference at MIT intended to explore how Buddhists and scientists can collaborate in their pursuit of understanding the mysteries of the human mind.
On Monday, the Dalai Lama is scheduled to meet with Harvard President Lawrence Summers and speak at the school’s Memorial Chapel.
The 68-year-old leader is viewed by Tibetan Buddhists as the 14th reincarnation of the Buddha of compassion. Living in exile since a failed 1959 uprising against the occupying Chinese army, the Dalai Lama received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.
AP-ES-09-14-03 1942EDT
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