Statement of TPIE in defence of Dalai Lama’s viral video
DHARAMSALA, 14 April
His Holiness the Great 14th Dalai Lama is a champion of world peace and the master of all teachings of the Buddha. To the Tibetan people, He is the ultimate protector, irreplaceable leader, and the guiding light. He is the embodiment of the Tibetan people’s identity, the emblematic symbol of their unity, and their free spokesman. He has devoted His life to carrying out four principal commitments for the benefit of humanity. These include the fact that as a human being, He has striven to promote human values. This, in His view, is the basis of happiness for everyone – whether as an individual, family, or society. In particular, the education in secular ethics, which His Holiness the Dalai Lama has pioneered and espoused, has become widespread and is being strongly implemented across the world.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama has routinely granted audience to people from within and outside communities across the world whenever they sought it. These people have belonged to a variety of different religions, occupational pursuits, races, and heritage. Besides, to the seven to eight billion people of this world, He has become an important source of inspiration in their efforts to achieve peace, well-being, and happiness. His Holiness is the epitome of compassion. It is an all too well-known fact that whether you are a youngster, an adult, an elderly person, or whatever your national origin may be, He never belittles whatever questions you put to Him or whatever requests you make to Him. Rather, He makes utmost efforts to satisfy everyone to the best of his ability. On occasions, on an understanding of having developed a fellow feeling, His Holiness interacts in a clearly playful manner with others, such as by pulling their beards, or touching His cheek or nose with theirs. And so, His Holiness has adopted numerous different ways to informally interact with people in a whole-hearted manner. This mannerism on His part has resulted in nothing but elation in the minds of the many people whom He has interacted with thus. This is borne out by the fact that His Holiness the Dalai Lama has repeatedly ranked among those in the top of the lists of leaders most admired or loved by people in opinion polls conducted with the participation of people from across the world. Hence, it has become utmost importance that all concerned persons should, build their awareness on His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s usual way of thinking and acting, and take responsibility to make efforts to create an understanding of the truth by dispelling the misconceptions that have arisen on the major international media and in communities.
The Central Tibetan Administration and, especially, His Holiness the Dalai Lama have been uninterrupted targets of vilification by the communist Chinese government. It is a campaign that the Chinese government has kept on pursuing at all times, and in every possible manner, both domestically and internationally, employing various sorts of media, private individuals and so forth. Its vile policy objective continues to attempt to destroy or otherwise degrade the Tibetan society. There is, of course, no way the Chinese government can mislead people in the international community with a sense of discernment and integrity. However, on occasions, when the Chinese government did manage to mislead a few people with their disingenuously false information, people with a sense of integrity both within and outside the community, as well as organizations have continued to provide timely clarifications, for which we offer our compliments. We see it as important to emphasize that whenever such incidents occur, all should, instead of going astray by following misinformation, pay close attention to all aspects of the issue – outward, inner, as well as hidden – with care, caution and steadiness of purpose to be able to counter them effectively.
We have been deeply hurt and saddened by the misinterpretation being currently given to an incident in a recent event with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, where without proper research irresponsible and careless sort of explanations and comments were being given to it in the media. There is, of course, no need to mention the fact that the activities of His Holiness the Dalai Lama are objects of great interest and delight for many hundreds of millions of people from across the world. His Holiness has very graciously acceded to pleas to live a long life for the happiness and wellbeing of sentient beings as well as for the sake of the Buddha dharma and sentient beings. In keeping with this noble promise, we ardently pray with utmost devotion that His Holiness the Dalai Lama continue to adhere to this commitment to keep carrying out his noble deeds on the basis of living a long life.
Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile
14 April 2023
