The next step here in Inverness is to create a centre where those great teachers can come and provide direct guidance for us in the Highlands on the techniques the Dalai Lama spoke about. But at the moment we have to travel to Edinburgh, Glasgow or our monastery, Samye Ling, in the Borders to reach those teachers. Taking control of our minds is one of the main aspects of what we do at Kagyu Samye Dzong Highlands and we are very fortunate here to have direct advice and guidance on that from some of the highest Tibetan lamas alive today. And it is something we can all learn and apply to try to make ourselves better people. Training the mind needs some skill, which is what our Tibetan teachers have such proven experience in providing. Often, some guidance is needed in making those changes and it is probable that that is why there is such an interest in Buddhist teachings on the mind in the West now, especially when so many of us live with such high levels of stress in our lives. We are prepared by biological factors to develop compassion, but by using our intelligence we can enhance it and extend it to include strangers and even enemies. Too much attention to material values leaves us not much different from animals, dependent on sensory pleasure and unable to employ our intelligence properly. He said we need to pay more attention to our inner values, for in order to reshape our minds, we need to know more about how the mind and our emotions work. His Holiness told us that all human beings want to find happiness but sometimes we look in the wrong places. It's no easy thing to drown out the sound of the great Highland bagpipe but we managed it, such was the warmth of feeling and care for each other that His Holiness generated within us. With His Holiness leading the singing, it turned out to be probably the highlight of the entire trip when all 1300 members of the audience around the various parts of the theatre rose to their feet and grasped their neighbours' hands.Įmotion flooded around the auditorium and the singing was so enthusiastic it even managed to drown the sounds of the pipe band whose members had walked down the aisles to join in the performance by lone piper Lewis Barclay. He said he thought it was such a wonderful idea. His Holiness shared the secret at Eden Court that it was something he had always wanted to do as it is a symbol of all types of faiths and peoples of all countries being able to come together in friendship. His Holiness proved to the audience at Eden Court Theatre in Inverness on June 23 that he still knows all the words to Auld Lang Syne as he joined the young pupils in the platform party in singing a rousing five verses and choruses.īut it was his first experience of the moving aspect of linking hands as that very important part of the message has never happened on any of his previous visits to Britain. Since that time, His Holiness has always enjoyed listening to the Great Highland bagpipes when he gets the chance as it helps bring back very special memories for him of the country he had to leave, at the age of 24, and has never been able to visit since. Growing up in what, in the West, would be considered rather unusual circumstances, the young Dalai Lama and his brother learned the words to Auld Lang Syne as Scots soldiers had taught it to Tibetans around four decades before. For that was some of the first music he heard when, as a very small child, he was taken from his parents' home in a remote part of Tibet and, surrounded by great ceremony, brought to Lhasa, the capital. His Holiness has clearly already created the change in many people's lives here in the north.īagpipes and 'Auld Lang Syne' have a special place in His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama's heart. In June, 2012, the people of the Highlands were honoured with a visit by world spiritual leader and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, His Holiness 14th Dalai Lama.Īpart from actually meeting such a great being, the highlight of the day was undoubtedly seeing the look of utter pleasure and joy on so many faces coming out of that theatre. His Holiness 14th Dalai Lama's Historic Visit to Inverness
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