His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s visit to Australia

By Vanshika Tripathi / June 24, 2015;

His Holiness greeting Tibetans gathered in the airport lobby to welcome him on his arrival to Sydney, Australia
Photo:Rusty Stewart

His Holiness the Dalai Lama arrived in Sydney, Australia on June 4 for an eleven-day visit. After being greeted with a traditional welcome at the airport from over 200 Tibetans, His Holiness gave an interview to Network Ten’s Waleed Aly. When asked about the role that religion serves in today’s society, His Holiness explained that religion is a means to develop inner peace and equanimity.

June 5 marked the first of five days of teachings at Leura. After performing the Vajrabhairava empowerment rituals, His Holiness began his discourse by emphasising that even though the religions of the world differ in terms of philosophy, they all teach the importance of love, compassion and forgiveness. “There are philosophical differences between them, but these are just different approaches to the same goal. This is why it’s so sad when religion apparently becomes a source of violence” said His Holiness. He then talked about Highest Yoga Tantra and the Nalanda Tradition.

His Holiness giving an interview to Waleed Aly of Network Ten TV in Sydney, Australia
Photo: Jeremy Russell

In the following days, His Holiness continued his teachings with the Heart of Wisdom recitation, 6-session Guru-Yoga and the Five Stages of Guhyasamaja. He met around 100 Chinese intellectuals, saying “For the last 30-40 years I have promoted friendship between Tibetans and Chinese. Although we’ve had difficulties for the last 60 years, that shouldn’t harm our 2,000-year-old relationship. I appreciate the efforts of those of you who have made this meeting possible.”

His Holiness spoke at the Happiness and Its Causes conference in Sydney Australia, saying that the current education system places importance on a materialistic way of living and how this is inadequate in building a happy society.

Towards the end of his stay in Australia, His Holiness attended a multi-faith congregation at the Cathedral of St Stephen, speaking on Precious Garland in Brisbane. “Because we don’t want suffering we need to evaluate our emotions and decide which to enhance and which to discard,” His Holiness said during the teaching.

His Holiness concluded his visit with a talk The Wisdom of Giving and Receiving, and a meeting with around 700 Bhutanese Australians.