21st Century Dharma

25 September – Long Beach, California

Buddhist monks from the United States, Vietnam, India, China, and Tibet sat on stage with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, facing him were approximately 10,000 Buddhists and non-Buddhist, believers and non believers, men woman and children, from all over the world. Making his opening remarks for the two day teaching His Holiness the Dalai Lama made sure to point out that those in attendance would be able to follow along in four languages. His Holiness spoke in English about various religious beliefs and how the purpose of the various traditions is to give humans conviction, love, and compassion.

A Vietnamese-American woman sat on the upper balcony of the Long Beach Convention Center with her two parents, this was her first time to see His Holiness the Dalai Lama; she ordered these tickets at the end of May. They will attend the two days of teachings before driving six hours back to Arizona. "My parents saw him once before, ten years ago, but I was in school then, I am excited to see him now." The three listen to the teachings in Vietnamese through FM radios.

His Holiness said, "now especially is the time for mutual understanding and respect, so therefore some knowledge is useful; 21st century Buddhists must be full of knowledge." The modern crowd that he addresses includes a large number of Vietnamese buddhists.

Vietnam has been a communist state for 79 years, the government ousted religion. Still, there are six million practicing Buddhists in Vietnam. His Holiness said "Although Vietnam is outwardly Communist I know that inwardly, it is Buddhist; even in China is like that now, military personal outwardly are genuine Communist. But deep down they have mobile phones, and some high officials have my picture there."

Inside Tibet even a simple photo of His Holiness the Dalai Lama is considered contraband, under the Chinese rule. Reporter for the Tibet Post asked His Holiness, "What will your next course of action be since you have said that your faith in the Chinese government has gotten thinner and thinner." His Holiness said "I don't know." He also said that in the meantime he has never lost faith in the Chinese people.

21st century Buddhism is transmitted over the air waves, throughout convention center halls, websites, and sometimes mobile phones, but in His Holiness the Dalai Lama's own country, prayer is the only means. He said, "there are many sincere Buddhists, and it is my responsibility to serve them as much as i can but the political situation for the time being is difficult almost impossible, so the only thing is to pray."

The teachings are being held at the Long Beach convention center from September 25-26. Friday there are two sessions each lasting two hours. The morning session considered The Four Noble Truths, the afternoon teaching is about Amitabha Permission Initiaton and Saturdays teaching is on Medicine Buddha. All the tickets were sold by the 17th of July. The Geden Shoeling Center is hosting center organized and staffed the event.