Dalai Lama in Ann Arbor

His Holiness the Dalai Lama has just completed two days of talks in Ann Arbor. What an inspiration it was. People flocked to fill Chrysler Arena (the basketball arena). You would think a major sporting event was going on, but it was all just to hear the man speak. Unfortunately, I was only able to attend the last session. But we did see many of the people in the restaurant after yesterday's sessions. The effect was obvious on their faces.

The lecture I saw was intended to coincide with Earth Day, and be comprised of environmental issues. He did cover the subject matter, but it didn't take long to basically say that we have to be more responsible with the way we treat our world. His best analogy was comparing the world to your home. If you need to heat your home, would you burn your furniture? The rest of the time he spent on topics he wanted to discuss.

He had a great discourse on religious harmony. He talked about his experience with practitioners of other religions, and how they are all basically after the same goal, happiness. One of the best things he said is how war in our time doesn't make any sense. It is not a reasonable solution to problems in this day and age. We need to develop compassion, and an understanding that we are all part of one great community.

His message boils down to cultivating a warm heart. From there just about all problems can be solved. Sounds good to me.

There will be a link provided tomorrow, to view all of the lectures. I will post it when it is made available.