Human Determination cannot be destroyed by force, says Dalai Lama in Latvia/ENG

2017. szeptember 25./Phayul.com/TibetPress

eredeti cikk

By Tenzin Dharpo

DHARAMSHALA, Sept. 25: In the last leg of his European tour, the exiled Tibetan leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama on Saturday began his schedule in the Latvian city of Riga.

The Dalai Lama met with group of parliamentarians from the three Baltic States—three from Latvia, including a former Minister of Justice, three from Estonia and four from Lithuania.

“Totalitarian systems don’t last forever and when the Soviet Union collapsed you here in the Baltic States seized the opportunity to restore your independence. It’s an honor for me to meet with you parliamentarians again. I believe that sometimes smaller nations which are no threat to China can be more critical in what they tell them,” the Tibetan leader said at the breakfast meet.

The octogenarian leader said that the conditions in his homeland due to China’s increasingly repressive rule for more than five decades has done little to undermine the spirit of the natives. He said, “The Chinese authorities have used all sorts of methods to eliminate the Tibetan spirit in Tibet, but human determination cannot be destroyed by force.”

While meeting Tibetans living in Latvia, the Tibetan leader said, “Some short-sighted hardliners among Chinese officials regard anything that is unique to Tibet as somehow indicative of a move towards separation from China. Since we are not seeking independence they ought to be able to regard Tibet’s special qualities as part of the culture of the People’s Republic of China.

“In this context, the fact that supporters like all of you from time to time express concern about the condition of our language, culture and natural environment is useful and helpful.”

The Buddhist leader gave a religious teaching on Kamalashila’s , The Middling Stages of Meditation and Tsongkhapa’s Concise Stages of the Path to Enlightenment at Skonto Hall during the weekend.