Dalai Lama Presides Ritual For World Peace In Austria
(AFP | Austria | October 15, 2002)
Against the background of a bloody bombing in Bali and US President George Bush's threats of war on Iraq, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama presided a ceremony in Austria Tuesday promoting world peace. Some 8,000 Buddhists and non-Buddhists from 70 countries across the world gathered in the stark industrial surroundings of a congress hall in Graz in eastern Austria to meditate, hear the Dalai Lama's teachings and come together in the name of peace.
The Kalachakra ritual, which means the "Wheel of Time", aims to promote peace and tolerance. Central to the ceremony is an elaborate picture in coloured sand which depicts a temple of the Buddha and is a meditation aid. The picture, called a "Mandala", is presented on the congress centre's stage, which, draped with yellow and deep red cloths as well as bright tapestries, is a splash of colour in a huge grey room.
A number of Buddhist monks gathered around the Dalai Lama Tuesday as he opened the Kalachakra with chants and teachings before a vast audience of all ages. The event opened Friday and is to run until October 23.
"The Dalai Lama has said that this initiation will do much to promote peace," Kalff Martin, a Swiss professor of religious science and theology at the University of Columbia in the United States and one of the event's organisers, told AFP.
He explained that Buddhist teachings are to value all forms of life, and foster the idea that different races and cultures are not really different. "Many conflicts arise because we do not understand another race or another culture or despise them. The potential for freedom from suffering rests on the basis of the message that we are all equal," Martin said.
Referring to a bomb attack last weekend on a tourist disco in the Indonesian tourist resort of Bali, which killed nearly 200 people and is believed to have been the work of extremist islamist terrorists, Martin said: "Terrorism comes from a blinded spirit which cannot see things in relation to each other.
"It tries to force something using violence which would be better achieved with peaceful methods." When asked what advice a Buddhist would give US President Bush, who has threatened military action against Iraq, Martin said: "The Dalai Lama warned against war in Afghanistan."
"Personally I think war is a bad method, and the last method one should use. One must think very hard and examine deeply whether war does not create more problems than it solves," he said. A group who had travelled from France to take part in the ritual said that they were not Buddhists but still hoped to work towards world peace. "If a large number of people get together in the name of peace, that could help," said Marie-Laurence Pappalardo. "With the Dalai Lama's charisma and force, the initiation could enlighten people's consciousnesses," added Carmen Graff.
"I don't think the ritual alone can help," said Sonam Phuntsok, a Tibetan Buddhist and performer of Tibetan traditional music and dance, who had travelled to perform at the Kalachakra from Dharamshala in northern India, where the Dalai Lama holds a government-in-exile.
"People organised the Kalachakra to make world peace, but I think it depends on the individual person. If they really take part and they want their role to be peaceful that is good," he said.
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