The Dalai Lama celebrated with an exhibition in the EP
On the 30th of June an exhibition was held to celebrate the religious and political leader of Tibet in sign of appreciation of the example he represents for the whole world. The exhibition entitled Ways of wisdom was organized on the occasion of the 80th birthday of the XIVth incarnation of Dalai Lama by Csaba Sógor and Thomas Mann MEP's in cooperation with the office of Tibet (Brussels) and International Campaign for Tibet.
The XIV Dalai Lama was born on the 6th July 1935 in Tibet. When he was two years old, he was recognized as the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama the XIIIth, becoming the religious and political leader of Tibet when he was fifteen. In 1959, when the Chinese army has stifled the national uprising in Tibet, the Dalai Lama was forced to emigrate. He established his seat in Northern-India, in the city of Dharamsala, where he is also living. Together with the government-in-exile of Tibet, he is preparing to return, and struggles for the autonomy of Tibet without violence. He is constantly one of the greatest spiritual leaders in the world, whose teaching emphasizes the importance of love, peace and compassion.
The beginning of the event started with a prayer of the Tibetan Buddhist monks for the long-life of His Holiness, after which Thomas Mann, MEP from Germany and the president of the Tibet Interest Group welcomed the audience. The German MEP quoted from the Dalai Lama's Nobel Price Acceptance Speech held in Oslo in 1989, encouraging the audience to follow his wisdom, because it doesn't matter what part of the world we come from, we are all seeking happiness and trying to avoid suffering.
In his inaugural speech MEP Csaba Sógor insisted upon the parallels between the struggles of the Tibetans and the Hungarian minority in Romania. "The whole world is taking interest in the Tibetan issue, therefore through it we can also point out all the deficiencies that are experienced by the European minorities. We can't emphasize enough the importance of the European Union setting a good example on human and minority rights. The EU has a duty to ensure that the minorities living on its territory are not discriminated against", he pointed out.
The Hungarian MEP from Romania also emphasized that the Hungarians from Transylvania appreciate the peaceful, dacades-long struggle of the Tibetans for human rights, democracy, freedom and autonomy. "The Dalai Lama's and the Tibetan people's struggle for autonomy, self-determination, and community rights, bears a close relation with the struggle of the Hungarian minority in Transylvania. We are all committed to convince the majority through dialogue that autonomy is the instrument which ensures the conditions of peaceful coexistence and mutual respect", emphasized the MEP.
The MEP also added that Hungarians may remember proudly Sándor Kőrösi Csoma, the first European to have researched the Tibetan language and Buddhism, leaving behind him a cultural history research on Tibet of universal significance.
The exhibition can be visited on the 6th July in Strasbourg, on the birthday of the Dalai Lama.
