Page 28 - EH64

26 EASTERN HORIZON | FEATURE

Our World in a

Time of Change

By His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

The following conversation by His Holiness the Dalai Lama was
with students in Russia.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama Prof Nikolai Yankovski, Member of other animals, even those as small
is the spiritual leader of the the Russian Academy of Sciences, as insects, we want to lead an
Tibetan people, and a world introduced himself and explained undisturbed happy life. What makes
renown Buddhist teacher. He is that he would be moderating a difference is that human beings
committed to promoting basic today’s conversation instead of Prof are intelligent and we try to use our
human values, to fostering inter- Tatiana Chernigovskaya, Director intelligence to find happiness. But
religious harmony, advocating for of Institute for Cognitive Research, sometimes we are short-sighted
the welfare of the Tibetan people St. Petersburg State University, and narrow-minded about it. In
and reviving ancient Indian who had lost her voice. He clarified the past, for example, we Tibetans
knowledge. His Holiness was that the main participants in would pray for the welfare of all
sentient beings, but in fact we were
today’s meeting were students at
awarded the Noble Peace Prize in Russian universities. He hoped the really only concerned with Tibetans.
1989 for his relentless pursuit of experience would be as significant I expect it was the same for you
peace in Tibet. for them as meeting His Holiness Russians too.

had been for him.
‘The twentieth century saw
His Holiness opened his talk with two world wars. We used our
the observation that we are all the human intelligence and scientific
same as human beings. knowledge for military purposes.
“We all want to live a happy life. We developed ever more destructive
We don’t want suffering. Like weapons including nuclear bombs

Prof Nikolai Yankovski, Member of the Russian
Academy of Sciences, introducing the program
with students from Russian universities
and His Holiness the Dalai Lama from his
residence in Dharamsala, HP, India on March
29, 2021. Photo by Ven Tenzin Jamphel