The Dalai Lama and Maria Shriver speak at the Vancouver Peace Summit
in BC, Canada. AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jonathan Hayward.
With all the well-known names that came to the Vancouver Peace Summit this September (Eckhart Tolle, Peter Buffet, Kim Campbell and Desmond Tutu, anyone?), it’s hard not to name drop. A real treat was the conversation between Maria Shriver (award-winning journalist, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s wife and member of the Kennedy family) and His Holiness the Dali Lama.
Actually, it was billed as a conversation, but Maria Shriver demonstrated her journalistic interview skills by using the time to question the Dalai Lama about pressing issues in her gentle, yet firm way.
She began by asking playfully about his “ability to be outraged and compassionate at the same time.” The Dalai Lama stayed true to his main message that “compassion means caring for others, so anything that is harmful you have to oppose.”
The big question of the afternoon, which members of the media watching the dialogue were most impressed by, was, “What do you fear in 2009?”
His holiness first said “the environmental issues” but then immediately went on to say, “Poverty, not only at the international level, but at the national level. Those poor people…”
Turning to the topic of women, the Dalai Lama said that he thinks there could be a woman Dalai Lama, “No problem” and that, sure, he considers himself a feminist. Asked about the idea of investing more in young girls, he replied, “I like it.”
Other great questions that didn’t get straight responses were things like:
- In India, they have peace corners instead of “time out” corners like here in North America. Does that work?
- Do we need to re-brand compassion?
His Holiness the Dalai Lama ended his conversation with the delightful Maria Shriver by summing up that “This body goes well with peace of mind.” How simple. How true.
The Dalai Lama Centre is the only one of its kind in the world and is based out of Vancouver, BC. Stay tuned for the launch, events, workshops and news about this exciting new space for peace in Canada.
What questions would YOU ask the Dalai Lama?
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