His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet

[Guest guest]

WorldPuja

http://www.worldpuja.org/

 

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet Millennium Message recorded January 1,

2000 via conference call and live webcast

 

Message

 

Many people seen to be excited about the new millennium, but the new millennium

in itself will be nothing special. As we enter into the new millennium things

will be the same; there will be nothing unusual. However. if we really want the

next millenium to be happier, more peaceful and more harmonious for the human

kind we will have to make the effort to make it so. This is in our hand, but is

especially in the hands of the younger generation.

 

We have had many experiences during this century- constructive as well as

extremely destructive ones. We must learn from these experiences We need to

approach the next millennium more holistically, with more openness and far

sightedness. If we are going to make the right kinds of efforts to make the

future of the world better, I believe the following matters are of great

importance:

 

1. While engaging in material progress and taking care of physical

well-being, we need to pay equal attention to the developing peace of mind and

thus taking care of internal aspects of our beings.

 

2. Along with education, which generally deals only with academic

accomplishments, we need to develop more altruism and sense of caring and

responsibility for others in the minds of the younger generation studying in

various educational institutions. This can be done without necessarily involving

religion. One could therefore call this 'secular ethics', as it in fact consists

of basic human qualities such as kindness, compassion, sincerity and honesty.

 

3. This past century in some ways has been a century of war and bloodshed. It

has seen a year by year increase in defense spending by most countries in the

world. If we are to change this trend we must seriously consider the concept of

non-violence, which is a physical expression of compassion. In order to make

non-violence a reality we must first work on internal

disarmament and then proceed to work on external disarmament. By internal

disarmament I mean ridding ourselves of all the negative emotions that result in

violence. External disarmament will also have to done gradually, step by step.

We must first work on the total abolishment of nuclear weapons and gradually

work up to total demilitarization throughout the world. In the process of doing

this we also need to work towards stopping the arms trade,

which is still very widely practiced because it is so lucrative. When we do all

these things, We can then hope to see in the next millennium a year by year

decrease in the military expenditure of the various nations and gradual working

towards demilitarization.

Human problems will, always remain ñ but he way to resolve them should be

through dialogue and discussion. The next century should be a century of

dialogue and discussion rather than one of war and bloodshed.

 

4. We need to address the issue of the gap between the rich and the poor, both

globally and nationally. This inequality, with some sections of the human

community having abundance and others on the same planet going hungry or even

dying of starvation, is not only morally wrong, but practically also a source of

problems. Equally important is the issue of freedom. As long as

there is no freedom in many parts of the world there can be no real peace and in

a sense no real freedom for the rest of the world.

 

5. For the sake of our future generations, we need to take care of our earth and

of our environment. Environmental damage is often gradual and not easily

apparent and by the time we become aware of it, it is generally too late. Since

most of the major rivers flowing into many parts of south-east Asia originate

from the Tibetan plateau, it will not be out of place to mention here the

crucial importance of taking care of the environment in that area.

 

6. Lastly, one of the greatest challenges today is the population explosion.

Unless wee are able to tackle this issue effectively we will be confronted with

the problem of the natural resources being inadequate for all the human beings

on this earth. We need to seriously look into these matters that concern us all

if we are

to look forward to the future with some hope.

 

January 1, 2000