His Holiness, the Dalai Lama’s 84th birthday

July 6 was His Holiness, the Dalai Lama’s 84^th birthday.  I spoke at a function to commemorate that at The Hellenic Club in Woden, Canberra.  What I said, I said “off the cuff”.   Many people liked it and one of the officials there said it was very brave.  I didn’t think it was very brave at all.  I just said what came into my mind.

I promised to “put it up”.  So, I have cleaned it up so it is understandable to readers and, here it is:-

Today is his Holiness’s 84^th Birthday so we should all say, “Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday”.

One of the things I’ve learned in my life is that we might all be born free as people but there is always someone wanting to take our freedom away.  There is always someone wanting to take our individual freedom away and our collective freedom away.  This means we must always be alert to the powers that want to do that.  There are always some individuals who use structures in a way that makes them believe they are stronger than we are.  So they think “We can control or we can manage that”.  They are caught in their own delusions of their own power and millions of people suffer at their hands.

What I’ve learnt from His Holiness is that there is one religion, one religion and that is loving kindness.  All other religions are based on that and the rest is geographical but the one religion is loving kindness and compassion to all.  That’s what life is all is about and there’s always people wanting to take that away from us and control us.  The other thing I’ve learned is that the only thing that is eternal is love.  That is the only thing that is eternal. 

Now, these warriors and their great armies may come and overtake us.   However, look at the number of armies that there have been throughout history and time.  There have been great leaders and great civilisations that have been.   What is true though is that the armies have melted away over time and the great civilisations have vanished in time.  They have built great buildings but the constant blowing of the wind has blown them away and they ended up as dust. 

The one thing that lasts is loving kindness.

One of the great things that I’ve learned from the Tibetan people is that it’s your stories that hold you together.  Your stories, and the Tibetan story is a strong story of love and compassion.  And so what I want to say on this day, His Holiness’s 84^th Birthday is “God bless the Dalai Lama and God Bless the Tibetan people”.  That is because your culture is a good loving culture.  Today, the world, particularly the western world has lost all of that.   Keep your stories, and keep your culture and keep your love of His Holiness.  The world is such a much better place for it. 

Thank you very much and God Bless His Holiness.