His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Tokyo
His Holiness the Dalai Lama met with Japanese and foreign media this afternoon before presiding over a mass prayer at Gokokuji Temple. His Holiness said that he was deeply saddened that Japan was struck with three cataclysmic natural disasters one after another – earthquake, tsunami and threat from the damaged nuclear plant. Japan being a Buddhist country, images of the Buddhist monasteries and the Japanese friends came before him and he felt sad, he said. “I am happy to have this opportunity to be with the people here and share their sorrow and pray for those who have lost their precious lives.
“But the tragedy has happened; there is no use worrying about it. Just as Japan has overcome the tragedy of World War II, I’m quite sure the people of Japan can overcome this tragedy and move forward to rebuild what has been lost in this disaster. You should not lose heart, you need to face the reality with determination,” His Holiness said.
When asked about the situation in Tibet and his decision to devolve his formal responsibilities to the elected Tibetan leadership, His Holiness said he has been committed to democracy and freedom. “Political tsunami has been going on in Tibet. Now these days there is a real danger of Tibetan Buddhist culture being destroyed. Some kind of cultural genocide is going on in Tibet. Media people should go there and investigate and see what is happening there.
“Another aspect of Tibetan problem is ecology. Some Chinese ecologists have said that the high plateau of Tibet is the third pole; global warming effect on Tibetan plateau is as dangerous as that of North and South poles. Major Asian rivers originate from Tibet. Lives of million of people in Asia including China depend on these rivers. This is not a problem of six million Tibetans!” His Holiness said.
Regarding his decision to relinquish formal responsibilities, he said that the world belongs to humanity; it does not belong to religious leaders and governments. “Japan belongs to Japanese people; China belongs to 1.3 billion Chinese, not to the communist party. Since 2001 we have a directly elected leadership and I was in semi-retirement. Now, after ten years, I see that with maturity of democracy among Tibetans in exile, the day has come to handover the political authority to the people. But this does not mean that I am resigning from being the Dalai Lama.
“Since the inception of the Dalai Lama institution in the 15th century, it was a spiritual institution. It was only from the 5th Dalai Lama onwards that political authority was also assumed by the Dalai Lamas. Now, the Dalai Lama`s role should be purely spiritual, and I voluntarily, proudly and happily end this four-century old leadership” He said.
