Dharamshala: On this auspicious day to celebrate the 89th birthday of the supreme leader of the Tibetan people, His Holiness the Great 14th Dalai Lama, the Kashag, on behalf of all the Tibetans in Tibet and exile, would like to pay our obeisance to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. We also extend our heartiest greetings to our chief guest, His Excellency Chief Minister of Sikkim Shri Prem Singh Tamang; Special Guest Member of Lok Sabha Arunachal Pradesh Shri Tapir Gao; His Excellency Speaker of the Sikkim Legislative Assembly Shri Mingma Norbu Sherpa; Hon. Bhutila Karpoche, Deputy Speaker of Ontario State Parliament; Honourable Ministers from the State of Sikkim: Hon. Shri Bhin Hang Subba; Hon. Shri Puran Kumar Gurung; Hon. Shri Pintso Namgyal Lepcha; Hon. MLA Shri Erung Tenzing Lepcha; Hon. MLA Shri Sanjeet Kharel; Namgyal Gangshontsang, Mayor of Oetwil am See, Switzerland and all the guests from here and afar who have particularly come to attend the celebration, and to all those who are celebrating the occasion around the world.
On this momentous occasion, as we rejoice in myriad ways around the world to celebrate His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s birthday, every single one of us has to remind ourselves that it is time to be proactively compassionate, in solemn gratitude to His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s relentless effort in creating a compassionate global community.
In accordance with the Tibetan calendar, this year marks the 90th birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. As per the modern calendar, His Holiness will turn 90 on 6 July 2025. Beginning July 2025, the Kashag will commence a diverse series of year-long events celebrating this milestone as the ‘Year of Compassion’. As a precursor to this significant event, the Kashag will briefly introduce the four principal lifelong commitments of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in four separate official events throughout this year, including today’s occasion, as a gentle reminder to followers and friends that the best way to please your Lama is to put into practice their words of advice.
His Holiness’ first lifelong commitment is to promote the happiness of all humanity based on the concept of oneness of humanity. Here is how His Holiness have, over the years, proceeded to espouse, in slightly different approaches, the spirit of altruism, universal responsibility, advancement of human values and secular ethics. During His Holiness’ first visit to European countries in 1973, His Holiness emphasized the practice of altruism — a state of mind that abandons petty self-gain and realizes a sense of commitment to others’ well-being when met with an opportunity to help others. This concept eventually evolved into what is now known as Universal Responsibility.
In the 1990s, His Holiness began to give brief discourses on the concept of secular ethics. On May 10 1999, in his address on ‘Ethics for the New Millennium’ at the Royal Albert Hall in London, His Holiness spoke of promoting human values as a responsibility of being a human being himself. The address did not specify whether it should be based on secular and religious ethics. However, in Varanasi, in the year 2000, His Holiness publicly mooted the concept of secular ethics not dependent on any particular religion.
The concept of the oneness of humanity is based on the nature of interdependence that affects one another. His Holiness advises against discrimination based on country, national origin, race, language, colour, ideology, culture, class, religion or any other. He stresses and elaborates on the undeniable fact that individuals and societies as a whole are interdependent, among all others, in commerce and finance, politics and military, transportation and the environment.
As long as we long for a physically healthy, mentally happy, and long life free from illness, we should hold dear compassion, loving-kindness, patience, contentment, and ethical conduct. When confronted with varied challenges, one must avoid the notion of being the only victim under a sense of despair, thereby losing one’s capacity to face the challenge. Rather, one should be positively oriented to resolve obstacles in stages through cooperative effort. His Holiness believes that thinking long-term rather than short-term, prioritising others before self, and working for the common good rather than individual interests are unavoidable responsibilities of humankind. His Holiness does not say this because of his title, or because he is a Buddhist leader or as a free spokesperson for the Tibetan people, but rather as someone deeply committed to human wellbeing and respecting human values.
His Holiness keeps emphasising the importance of secular ethics. All the 8 billion human beings in this world aspire for happiness and abhor suffering. One-eighth of us are non-believers, and believers not only follow different religions, but also different traditions within those religions. His Holiness’ talks about the means for gradually extending the need for individual happiness to humanity as a whole is based on the presence of compassion that could bring true happiness and peace.
Based on innate human attitudes and feelings, His Holiness wrote hundreds of books to encourage the development and enhancement of basic human values and qualities. ‘The Power of Compassion’ in 1995, ‘The Art of Happiness’ in 1998, ‘Ethics for the New Millennium’ in 2001 and ‘Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World’ generated deep interest worldwide.
To confront the present and growing degenerative future challenges of the gap between ‘rich and poor’ and of ‘we and they’, His Holiness widely talks about the need to understand the interdependent nature of our existence for more openness and responsibility towards each other and the need for education based on compassionate living. His Holiness also stresses the need to eliminate the main cause of our suffering, the concept of ‘I and mine’ that brings about unyielding thoughts. His persistence in including compassion and wisdom as part of holistic modern education has resulted in such practices in more than 130 countries to date, over and above convening annual international discussions on it. To symbolise their respect for His Holiness’ invaluable thoughts, many Western nations have honoured him with about 300 prestigious awards and honorary doctorates.
His Holiness has visited more than 60 countries nearly 300 times and met with almost 500 political and religious figures. His public talks and visits to about 60 universities have helped open the minds of millions through the messages based on his four commitments and other invaluable insights.
Next year, as mentioned above, the Kashag has decided to celebrate, as per the Western calendar, the ninetieth birthday of His Holiness the Great 14th Dalai Lama formally and internationally throughout the year. The 90th birthday celebration organising committee, headed by the Cabinet Secretary, will comprise civil servants of the three pillars of democracy and the major departments. This committee will be responsible for overall coordination and support. In India, Nepal and Bhutan, each of the departments would be responsible for streamlining regular and special 90th anniversary events under their jurisdiction. Under DIIR (Department for Information and International Relations), each of the Offices of Tibet will form organising committees in each nation under their jurisdiction to develop and execute events at national and institutional levels. At an appropriate time, we shall announce a dedicated online portal for downloading materials that can be accessed by everyone. This includes films, documentaries, exhibitions, and more, and also for uploading conducted events.
Last month, after passing the ‘Resolve Tibet Act’ in both houses of the US Congress, a seven-member high-level bipartisan US Congressional delegation led by the Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Congressman Michael McCaul, purposely visited Dharamshala and presented a framed copy of the legislation to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Speeches of the delegates in support of Tibet at the public event organised by the Central Tibetan Administration in their honour have moved many hearts. At the occasion, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi pronounced ‘His Holiness the Dalai Lama, with his message of knowledge, tradition, compassion, purity of soul and love, he will live forever”.
The legislation aimed at resolving the Sino-Tibet dispute recognises the Sino-Tibet dispute as unresolved and that the legal status of Tibet is as yet to be settled under international law, as the official policy of the US government. It acknowledges the Tibetan people’s right to self-determination, points out the distorted narrative of Tibetan history by the Chinese government, and urges negotiations. In all, the unprecedented support for the Tibetan people’s struggle for justice has lent solid backing to the will of the Tibetan people to one day freely preserve and protect our religion and culture, language, way of life and environment. The Kashag will strive to work towards similar policy adoption in other free democratic nations as well. Therefore, we urge every Tibetan and Tibet supporter everywhere in the world to join in this common effort.
This year, in recognition of the exiled Tibetans’ practice of democracy, the US-based National Endowment for Democracy conferred the Democracy Service Medal in the name of the Sikyong of the Central Tibetan Administration. This is a definite recognition of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s visionary leadership and encouragement in steering the Tibetan community towards democracy no sooner after coming into exile and in honour of the unstinted dedication of the previous generation of Tibetans who put it into practice.
At most of the Long life prayer offerings to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, including the recent one, as per divination by Machik Palden Lhamo, the state protecting deity, His Holiness has committed to live beyond 110 years. I wish to express our appreciation and gratitude to the protecting deities for safeguarding His Holiness, the government and people of India, the US and others, and innumerable individuals for their steadfast support. Particularly at this point of time when His Holiness is recovering from a successful knee surgery, we want to thank the HSS (Hospital for Special Surgery) team and every Tibetan inside and outside including non-Tibetans for their prayers under the guidance of Nechung Choegyal Chenmo, the other state protecting deity.
To conclude, Your Holiness, you are the eyes of our view and the heart of our being. Although Your Holiness could rest in the equipoise of emptiness like space, yet you choose to serve all living beings in this illusory world. May Your Holiness live long, and may all your wishes be fulfilled devoid of obstacles. May Your Holiness return to the Potala palace and continue to turn the wheel of Dharma. May the truth of our cause prevail, and may there soon be the reunion of Tibetans inside and outside Tibet. May this vast world be illuminated by the light of wisdom that distinguishes what to adopt and what to abandon, and may all directions be filled with the soothing shade of compassion.
The Kashag
6 July 2024
Note: This is a translation of the Tibetan statement. Should any discrepancies arise, please treat the Tibetan version as final and authoritative.
