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The Dalai Lama Ends American Pilgrimage

He Denounces One Religion, One Truth Doctrine And Calls for Spiritualism, Compassion In Their Own Right

A P Kamath

Oprah Winfrey and Goldie Hawn were among the many celebrities to listen to the Dalai Lama's farewell sermon on peace, compassion and human rights on Saturday. They were joined by nearly 4,000 people at Chicago's Field Museum on the last day of a 17-day American visit.

In New York and Bloomington, Indiana, many Hollywood film-makers and stars including Martin Scorsese, Harrison Ford, Steven Seagal met with the Dalai Lama. The events were organized with the help of Richard Gere, a devout Buddhist, whose recent film, The Runaway Bride, with Julia Roberts, is one of the biggest hits of the year.

Robert Thurman, a noted Tibetan scholar, professor at Columbia University, and the first American to be ordained a Tibetan Buddhist monk, also attended many of the Dalai Lama's discourses and social events.

There were also movie stars. Steven Seagal stopped by the first week, and Richard Gere sat rapt front and center throughout the final two days of the ritual -- a world peace ceremony and high level "empowerment" for serious practitioners.

Sounding his familiar themes of spiritual growth and compassionate competitiveness, the Dalai Lama asserted in Chicago: "We are the same physically, spiritually and emotionally...We have the same potential ... to help other people.''

Emphasizing the importance of meditation and spiritualism, the Dalai Lama, who had said in New York that it was more important to be spiritual than religious, decried religious violence.

Denigrating the conception of one religion and one truth, he said while love and compassion for mankind was necessary, esoteric philosophy and doctrine are not.

Earlier in Bloomington, where his brother has established a Tibetan Cultural Center which is run by the Dalai Lama's nephew Jigme Norbu, at the end of the 12-day marking the Kalachakra Tradition, the Dalai Lama said he was hesitant to accept the invitation to perform a high tantric ritual in the United States.

But he was very impressed with the genuine interest shown by Americans in Buddhism.

"How much they understand is another matter," he said, grinning.

The Kalachakra Initiation drew about 5,000 people a day packed into a sprawling white tent filled with colorful, religious wall hangings.

The Dalai Lama also discussed Ethics for the New Millennium, his book which has been on The New York Times bestseller list for three weeks, joining the list in the very week of its release..

"The main message is toward nonbelievers," he said, explaining that serious religious practitioners "including those of other faiths, were concerned about promoting basic human values such as compassion, community, and forgiveness."

But "the majority of humanity" are not concerned with those values, and "we need these basic human good qualities whether they are believers or nonbelievers."

His latest visit has made him more optimistic about the future, he added.

"Generally in America, Europe, and Japan there are signs of a feeling of frustration about the materialistic existing life," he said. "So people begin to feel something lacking. Besides material facility, (they seek) some deeper human values."

The organizer of the Indiana event was the Bloomington-based Tibetan Cultural Center, which was founded by the Dalai Lama's older brother, Thubten Norbu, a retired professor of Tibetan studies at Indiana University.

Norbu's son Jigme told reporters that his uncle's appearance was purely religious.

But the presence of over a dozen stern looking security men offered another aspect of reality The Chinese officials expressed to Washington, Beijing's "strong resentment and firm opposition to the (Dalai Lama's) trip."

The Dalai Lama said he and his older brother disagree on how to approach the Chinese. His brother advocates a return to complete independence for Tibet while the Dalai Lama said he is seeking only "genuine autonomy, not independence."

Next: The Marketing of the Dalai Lama

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