A Chinese Student’s Interview With the Dalai Lama

After the turmoil in early March, China’s media heavily attacked the Dalai Lama as the sponsor of violence in Tibet, setting off a surge of nationalistic reactions among Chinese students and immigrants around the globe. Has the whole world been hoodwinked by the simple monk, or have we built up blind hatred based on distorted information? Either way, as a student supporting the Olympic Games and an individual who is determined to make contributions to the Harmonious Society, I do not wish to see Chinese and Tibetan people hating each other due to lack of necessary communication. With some questions and advice, I came to Colgate University and met with the Dalai Lama in a private house on April 24th, 2008.

In fact, after watching the turmoil in Lhasa on the Internet, some friends and I organized a panel discussion on Tibet in the International Affairs Building at Columbia University, where we included not only Tibetan speakers such as the Dalai Lama’s representative to the United States, the Director of Tibetan Youth Congress in US, but also scholars such as the Director of Modern Tibetan Studies at Columbia, as well as a political analyst representing the views of the Chinese government. It has been our firm belief that the best way to resolve bias and misunderstanding is through free exchange of ideas among people with different perspectives from all walks of life. The discussion lasted for three hours, with around one hundred and eighty attendees, including some of my friends and classmates, who, even at that time, had expressed their wish to hear the Dalai Lama’s positions towards the Olympic Games, Tibet’s future and the Youth Congress.

So on April 22nd, I zigzagged through the highway system without satellite signals, and managed to arrive at the very beautiful upstate institute, Colgate University, where His Holiness was giving a lecture on “happiness.” Five thousand eager faces crowded in the lecture hall where a fresh energy was surging through the air. Sitting in the ballroom between two large screens, he spoke slowly in a sincere manner. Despite making some occasional grammar mistakes, he was clearly a man of swift intelligence and great personal charisma. During the two-hour lecture, the main theme was always about compassion, pity, tolerance, understanding and forgiveness. After the event, when the audience was slowly dissolving into the beautiful campus with contented smiles, I saw twenty Chinese students waving national flags outside the lecture hall and shouting “We’re one family, don’t break it!” Due to a sore throat, I couldn’t engage in more communication with my fellow students, but I thought when seeing the Dalai Lama I would ask some serious questions that we all care about.