Franklin Students Visit Dalai Lama
12/18/2007
Group sits in on Dalai Lama’s public speech on inner peace for world harmony.
On Sunday, December 9, a group of Franklin College students sponsored by the Student Programming Board journeyed to Milan, Italy, to hear His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The public lecture, entitled “The Way toward Inner Peace and Non-violence,” closed his three-day discussion of a first-century Indian text on Buddhism and its application to modern global relationships.
The 72-year-old monk welcomed his diversified and packed audience as his brothers and sisters. With a light, playful style belying the weighty issues at hand, the Dalai Lama described his views regarding everything from international relations and warfare to parental involvement. The common thread lay in the fact that “everyone’s life, in this globalized world, is interdependent.” Compassion, which lies at the heart of non-violence, begins in the home and spreads through the connections people have with one another. This diffusion of “warm-heartedness,” he said, is what will lead to more peaceful global relationships.
Ellen Tilley, an American freshman who practices Buddhism herself, noted, “The biggest point in Buddhism is compassion. It’s a basic concept, it’s easy to know about it, but actually to do it is another thing. It was a good reminder for me and for everyone.”
The Dalai Lama confessed, “I love some unrealistic ideas,” but in general his discussion focused on common sense. He stressed how important personal well-being, both spiritual and mental, can be in the ways one interacts with society. One student, Madison McClintock, who is the secretary of Franklin’s new Avant-Garde Club, was especially struck by his suggestion that compassion begins with the individual’s peace of mind and that the lack thereof can be manifested through seemingly unrelated vices. She also came to a realization: “Milan is the fashion capitol of the world. It was the perfect place for him to answer a question about materialism.”
The return to Lugano was quiet as everyone wondered how to live up to the expectations of the Buddhist leader. “Have some kind of vision,” he said. “Then act. Educate our younger generation. Give them hope!” With this deceptively simple statement, he charged all present to help move the earth in a better direction.
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