SHARE A STORY
A symbol of universal peace and compassion, His Holiness the Dalai Lama has touched the lives of many of us.
Share with us your story of connection to His Holiness, whether its a quote from his teachings or a pilgrimage which has changed your life.
His Holiness’ institution is under threat from the looming shadow of the Chinese Communist Party. Beijing has time and again attempted to paint a foul picture of His Holiness to no avail.
For Tibetans in Tibet, the very act of expressing your admiration for His Holiness the Dalai Lama is an act of defiance. It is a way that Tibetans have resisted China’s occupation of Tibet and draconian laws imposed under the CCP.
The love and admiration for the Dalai Lama trascends borders. Let’s resist China this Global Day of Action by sharing our genuine stories of connection to His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Use the hashtags #DalaiLamaAndMe and #resistchina on social media to share your story with us this Global Day of Resistance.
Dalai Lama and Me
Sydney, 2009: His Holiness the Dalai Lama with a lucky few who were granted a group audience.
Jonathan
In 1984 as a young doctor I had the opportunity to volunteer in Tibetan refugee communities in India.
Although based at Delek Hospital in Dharamsala the work included travelling to remote settlements throughout Himachal Pradesh as well as attending regular clinics in McLeod Ganj, Tibetan Children’s Village and three months over the summer at Choglamsar near Leh in Ladakh where another Tibetan Children’s Village provided services to refugees from westen Tibet.
It was a a huge honour to serve after a life of privilege growing up in Melbourne. The experience instilled in me an enduring love for the Tibetan people and a great appreciation of their trauma at the hands of the Chinese occupation.
During that time I was befriended by Ngari Rinpoche, the younger brother of HH the Dalai Lama who arranged a 1-hour private audience with His Holiness by way of thank-you.
We met at his residence perched on the hilltop above Delek Hospital and discussed wide-ranging including Buddhist views on life death and rebirth as well as the healthcare needs Tibetan in exile.
It was an extraordinary experience, and at the time I’m not sure I fully appreciated the honour bestowed by such an audience.
His warmth and good humour were infectious and overwhelming. The memory of it left an indelible impression that I’ve carried all of my life.
Alan
His Holiness has had an unfathomable effect on my life since I first stumbled upon a ‘Rolling Stone’ magazine article in 1982 detailing his early years. His story never really left my mind.
In 2008 I spent five days in the presence of His Holiness at teachings in Sydney.
The impact was remarkable. I became a Buddhist and took the lay vows.
Ever since that time His Holiness has continued to be the biggest inspiration in my life, the source of wisdom, the acknowledgement of a spiritual realm in my existence, and truly a guiding light in difficult times.
Without the example, the wisdom and the teaching of His Holiness I am sure that my life would have become very messy, many years ago.
By contrast, every day I consider my good fortune and how I can best help other people less fortunate than me.
Both of these impulses are entirely due to His Holiness, who has made the world a better place, and has made my life and my mind a better place.
Best wishes,
Alan
Sherab
Many moons ago when i was back home in Tibet, His Holiness was a small kid on a big throne known as “Yeshin Norbu” to me. I knew how important he is since then as we get to see that photo only once a year on the first day of Tibetan new year. First day is exclusively reserved to family only, so possession of this holy photo was not known by anyone but family. I would wonder as to why this little kid is so important, and when asked, elders would say you will know with time.
Then in Lhasa, where I stayed for 2 months before fleeing to India. I would go to Potala palace with grandpa and ask him who all the big statues were. He gave me the same answer, “Yeshin Norbu” to every single statues I pointed to. And i remember thinking, “Wow! That little kid has grown up so big”. And then in Dharamsala, at a mere age of 9, I saw His Holiness for the first time on screen. I saw him in yellow robe giving an important teaching, and I was mesmerised by how simple he presented despite being the Yeshin Norbu. We, all the newly arrived Tibetans form Tibet were readied to go and meet him one day, I was so excited and donned the best outfit I owned. While waiting for his arrival in a room full of people, I kept looking at the door waiting for His Holiness in yellow robe to arrive, only to realise he has entered, sat and greeted all of us with, “How was your journey”. When I looked towards the chair, I was like, “Oh! Yeshin Norbu looks just like every other monks in red robe”.
Since then, as the elders told me once, I learnt how significant he is to us Tibetans and rest of the world with passage of time. I live every single day in deep gratitude towards him for what i am now is all because of him.
LONG LIVE HIS HOLINESS THE 14TH DALAI LAMA.
Sherab
Elly
I am writing to you from Birmingham UK but want to tell my story which happened when I was living in Tokyo, Japan.
My husband had contributed many of his professional photos of our visit to Tibet in 1987 to the Tibet organisation magazine in Tokyo. By 1991 my husband had been diagnosed with a rare motor neuron disease and was wheelchair bound.
The Tibetans we knew told us that His Holiness was going to visit Tokyo. That night I typed up my husband’s story of how his photos of our visit to Tibet had been exhibited in the Olympus gallery in Tokyo and again in Kyushu where the photos were sold to raise funds for a recreation centre for young people in wheelchairs.
I asked if we could meet His Holiness as that would mean so much to my husband whose health was deteriorating and whose condition was terminal. I faxed (remember faxes?) the hotel where His Holiness was staying much to the amusement of my husband who was convinced I was being crazy to think it would even be delivered or ever read.
The next morning I told my boss that I might have to go to visit His Holiness the Dalai Lama as I had faxed that request in the middle of the night. She laughed and suggested I had no chance. So, I phoned the hotel and sure enough they put me through to the right room and after a long babble of my telling the kind Tibetan man on the phone about the fax he simply said calmly “Yes, His Holiness received your fax and has read it and would like to see you at 5 this afternoon”. Bursting with joy, I phoned our carer at home and skipped back to my boss to tell her I was going home to collect my husband.
That meeting proved to be one of the most powerful of our lives. His Holiness arranged a meeting with his physician and we received Tibetan medicine form him for the next two years but most of all it gave my husband a sense of peace that he had not found until then.
The generosity, empathy and concern showed to us as a family by His Holiness touched us so much
and gave us all a burst of energy and hope. My husband lived another 4 years and, on his death, a very moving Tibetan ceremony was organised by the Tibetans we knew in Tokyo. My daughter and I have been lucky enough to meet His Holiness another three times and our support of the Tibetan cause and community has continued.
Our subsequent visit to Litang in Tibet with an exiled Tibetan friend and to McLeod Ganj and Dharamshala have certainly marked our lives in an exceptional way.
Best wishes
Elly
Susan
That’s me up in the left hand corner peeping out over Paul Bourke’s shoulder. The day we were introduced to the Dalai Lama was the most special day for me, I had rung a friend about it as I didn’t want to be a blubbering idiot when I met him, she told me meditate about it and think what you want to say. So I did think, and what I said was thank you, thank you thank you, I am so grateful for what HHDL brings to this world, what he has brought to my life and hopefully how I can benefit others.
I am a Nurse and work with drug addicted offenders and when I can give them pearls of wisdom that I have learnt from the Dalai Lama they listen, truly listen. So yes we are so fortunate to live in this time to know this very precious man Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness the Dalai Lama. I love him.
Donna
I have been interested in Tibet and the Dalai Lama since I was a teenager (a number of decades ago). I first saw him live in Adelaide, South Australia back in the early 1990s it must have been. I kept up my interest in him over the years, and my son and I saw him in Melbourne which was a big day out, given how far away we lived at the time. My son thought he was hilarious and has been a fan of his ever since.
Then, while living back in Adelaide, we went to see him again and again he made us laugh. I have longed for decades to go work and live in McLeod Ganj in India to be close to the Dalai Lama. Perhaps one day. For now, I have the seeds he blessed in Melbourne that I hope to grow on my own property, should that day arrive.
And of course, I have very fond and special memories of seeing him with my son a wonderful shared experience for us. The Dalai Lama is a light and a joy.
Donna x
Katia
I met HHDL for the first time in London in 1996 when a powerful schizotypic disorder invaded my mind and I had to leave at university the course in engineering forever because my inability was too strong, so I asked mentally to His Holiness the Dalai Lama to became a nun and by miracle in 2010 I did become a nun.
Now I feel that HHDL saved me from the unethical roads and from the mental hospitals which I have done before to become a nun and then not anymore. I wish HHDL to long live and the best auspicious success for all his activities, farthermore I request him to come back among us in his next life and turn again the weel of dharma .
Best wishes to all of you and best success for your/our helping activities in favour of Tibet, ani Sangmo from FPMT Italy.
Katia
Jo
Had an amazing experience meeting with His Holiness would love to see him have an opportunity to go back home.
Jo
Dylan
It was an unforgettable experience to have a private audience with His Holiness in January 2019. Carrying the mood of excitement and joy, I started my journey to Dharamsala.
This meeting with His Holiness benefited me greatly. I am fully convinced by his wisdom and great vision that the Middle Way Approach is the best solution for the Tibet issue.
That is why I have been encouraging my friends, especially my friends in China, to come to Dharamsala to meet with His Holiness in person, to be inspired by his wisdom and his care for the world.
Dylan
Lorraine
I’m front row on left second in. I felt profoundly honoured to meet HHDL.
The feeling around him is so beautiful that you just want to stay with him in that energy He showed me what it looked like to be deeply peaceful and joyful at the same time. He was laughing and making jokes during our time. He treated everyone as if they were special and spoke about world events in a compassionate no judgemental way. I will never forget how I felt in his presence.
Lorraine
Alicia
In 2007, His Holiness the Dalai Lama came to Melbourne Australia and gave week long talks. Being a practising Buddhist, I was extremely eager to volunteer my time to assist backstage and help set up and prepare for the Sangha.
Each day, being able to help and offer assistance to the visiting Sangha and HHDL was an experience I will never forget. Each morning, I felt blessed to say good morning to him and then watch as he shared his hours each day sharing thoughts, wisdom, listening to others, sharing the joy of love and compassion to thousands of open hearts in Melbourne.
At the time I was pregnant (but not showing and besides a couple of volunteers, no one knew) and one morning on HH arrival, he walked in and smiled at all of us that lined to greet him. And he stopped in front of me and touched my belly. The warm blessing given was very special. She is now 14years of age and her name is Ke-ani Tenzin.
May HH Dalai Lama continue to live long and may his words and wisdom continue to ring out throughout the world.
Deborah
Wow I am so excited about this year’s Global Day of Action.
“This Global Day of Action is marked on 1st October; the same day as Chinese National Day, to continue the Cross-Movement effort from Tibetans, Uyghurs, Hong Kongers, Southern Mongolians, Taiwanese, and Chinese dissidents to resist China.”
In the early 1990s I traveled from NW Tasmania to Hobart to see the Dalai Lama – we’d booked seats to hear his public address.
My story is a simple one about how the Dalai Lama has affected my life in a positive way since then.
I have always remembered one thing he said that day: “This is life; this is as good as it gets.”
It is not a negative message, as if one should take a deep breath and get on with it no matter how hopeless things feel. It is a message of living in the now, to take this precious thing “life” and get the most out of it because you know it’s a blessing.
On that day he showed his sense of humour, speaking earnestly in Tibetan until the audience grew restless then launched into his main speech. I was touched.
May the world see sense and feel endless compassion on 1st October and thereafter.
Deborah
Zoë
In his Nobel Peace prize acceptance speech, His Holiness the Dalai Lama said “in our struggle for freedom, truth is the only weapon we possess.”
These words are so powerful. The truth is so powerful. The steadfast leadership of the Dalai Lama in Tibet’s non-violent struggle has been so inspiring.
I have to believe that Tibet will not suffer under the CCP for much longer. That the truth is indeed a powerful weapon and that the determined non-violent struggle of Tibetans will prevail.
Steve
By an accident not of our making, my brother and our two girlfriends ended up in Dharamsala after being told by a travel agent in New Delhi that other hill stations were closed, with no idea where we were. It was August 1971 on a rainy monsoon day after travelling for nearly 3 months from Rome. A woman in a red tunic motioned us to follow her and started up a small dirt path up the mountain. We didn’t know her and had no idea where she was taking us but thought she in some way knew where we were going.
After about 30 minutes, covered in sweat and breathing heavily, we caught up with her as she was waiting further up the path. “Dalai Lama” she said, pointing down the path where she was waiting. I looked at my brother Ben, astonished, and repeated to him “Dalai Lama? Are you kidding me.”
That began a 9 month stay in a small house owned by Mr. Nowrojee in McLeod Ganj which changed our lives. We studied with Geshe Rabten, a Tibetan Rinpoche and mentor of the Dalai Lama’s, and still practice the Dharma today. Long life to HHDL and all praise to the guru. Save Tibet.
Steve
Nigel
In 2012 I visited the Potala Palace in Lhasa and went into his audience room where no mention was made of HH Dalai Lama and his rightful home there. I reflected that he had to leave his residence in 1959 to go into exile at the early age of 24 and that he had never been allowed to return. That was a very sad and moving moment for me whilst I was also very aware that outside the Chinese military continued to occupy his and his compatriots’ country for many years later.
In 2014 I visited the house in which he was born to a humble family, in the small village of Takster in the farthest reaches of Tibet, far from Lhasa and even farther from his home of many years in exile in Dharamsala, India. From such humble beginnings he has become a symbol of hope and compassion, not just for Tibetans but many across the world to whom he is a true inspiration.
There is eternal shame on the Chinese authorities for preventing the Dalai Lama and his fellow exiles from freely returning to their homeland and from preventing the re-establishment of an independent Tibet.
Nigel
Victoria
As His Holiness gazed into my eyes whilst holding my hand I felt truly seen and truly loved, unconditionally. It stays with me always.
Victoria
Enrico
My greatest memory of His Holiness would be the time he received us in his private rooms in Dharamsala when we presented our book “Tibet Di Otak”.
His Holiness schooled us about our own history that has been lost; of the importance of Indonesia to Tibet because of Atisha’s studies there before bringing Buddhism to Tibet.
And perhaps most importantly when His Holiness asked me personally to start and head a foundation to spread the plight of the Tibetans to my fellow countrymen in Indonesia.
Enrico
Bruce
HH the Dalai Lama
He seems so normal.
But He is beyond profound,
He is our true friend.
Avalokita
Our cries are not lost,
Great healing power responds.
We can find a way.
Chenrezig Mantra
Mani hums along,
It embraces us fully.
Such a joyous gift.
Interdependence
This must affect that,
Nothing exists by itself.
All is related.
Compassion
Where can we find it?
In a child’s smile, a dog’s lick,
It flows everywhere.
Bruce
Robyn
I have been most fortunate to meet His Holiness the Dalai Lama twice during ATC tours to Dharamsala (that’s me at the back in the photo above, right above His Holiness).
Meeting His Holiness is the most profound experience, one that will remain with me for the rest of my life. When His Holiness holds your hand and looks directly into your eyes it’s as if you are the most important person in the world. That is what makes the Dalai Lama such a special person, every single living being in this world is important to him. He is filled with love, compassion and wisdom.
I have witnessed the love and respect given to the Dalai Lama in many different places. Many years ago, a nomad in Tibet risked his freedom to share with me a photo of the Dalai Lama that he kept close to his heart. When faced with oppression, the Dalai Lama gives the Tibetan people hope and courage. Outside Tibet we are so fortunate to have ready access to the Dalai Lama’s teachings. I have people close to me who are finding that these teachings are helping them face anxiety and depression and live more positive lives.
The love and respect for His Holiness the Dalai Lama really does transcend borders, it’s vitally important that the Institution of the Dalai Lama remains for the benefit of all living beings.
Robyn
Jane
What l have learned through being more “ MINDFUL “ ATTACHMENT “ GRASPING 🙏🏼
Sincerely
Jane
Pauline
When the Dalai Lama was asked why didn’t he stay and fight the Chinese. He answered “my head said to fight but my heart said not to and my head and my heart must live together in peace”.
Sincerely,
Pauline
Sue
I was in Canberra Australia when I and my two teenage sons attended a large audience where His Holiness gave a talk. He was proceeded by talks from other faith leaders in the community. His talk was about love respect and a commitment to faith whatever that may be.
As we drove away I was struck by my sons enthusiasm and recollection of His Holiness words and the way he spoke even though we were seated at the back row of 6000. Even today after13 years my sons recall the powerful effect he has had on their life. One son has survived stage III cancer but during his three years of treatment he followed a Buddhist practice of steadying the mind being grateful for the treatment and maintained a love to others. My other son has done the same.
I have been studying Buddhism for the past six years and have continued my Dharma practice. May His Holiness live long and continue to teach for others. Thank you.
Sue
Lee
In July, 2011, in Washington, DC, I spent 10 days in a Kalachakra teaching by the Dalai Lama. I and 10,000 others. It was the most wonderful 10 days of my life.
Lee
Phil
On my first visit to McCleod Ganj, to do a course at Men-Tsee-Khang, I was also hoping to see His Holiness. As I arrived in town I heard a siren. People said that was announcing that His Holiness was leaving on a trip! I was sad, but consoled myself that maybe he would be back soon.
Early that morning, before dawn, I awoke to a strange dream. I wanted to stay with it but also wanted to remember. It seemed to be a poem. It was so clear and meaningful in the dream and as I switched on the light and rummaged for paper I knew I was losing it. I also knew it wasn’t ‘mine’. Perhaps a gift from His Holiness? I’ve never had a dream like it. I still love the way it invites me to follow the advice of the Buddhist masters.
Here is my best attempt to capture it:
In faith I place my trust in His Holiness, Tenzin Gyatso
In respect of his advice I test the words of a simple monk
In silence I analyse the meaning for the welfare of self and others
In humility I bow to the lineage from whom the truth has come.
Phil
Narissa
As turbulent samsaric seas crash around me, I turn to your shining example.
Maha Karuna.
In my heart, a storm is calmed.
Toward those who have harmed me, I feel peace, kindness and care.
For those who have supported me, my eyes well with tears of gratitude.
To my own deluded self, still trapped in the net of suffering, I offer forgiveness, healing and hope.
With brightness in my heart, I can carry on.
May we all be at ease. May we all know peace.
Thank you, Your Holiness, for showing me this way.
Narissa
GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION:
RESIST CHINA
What is #ResistChina?
1st October is the national day of the People’s Republic of China. This year the Chinese Communist Party celebrated its 101st anniversary and is gearing up for its 20th National Congress in November.
2022 has been a significant year for leaders around the world finally recognising the dangers of authoritarianism and ethnonationalist irredentism, especially after the Russian invasion of Ukraine; yet, though there has been progress in increasing awareness of the plight of Tibetans, Uyghurs, Hong Kongers, and other groups subjected to the CCP’s repression, little concrete action has been taken by world leaders to curb the Chinese government and its continued violations of fundamental human rights and socio-political freedoms.
Our action for this year’s 1st October Global Day of Action to resist China is to show support for His Holiness the Dalai Lama, which is under threat from the Chinese government.
We continue to build on the 2020 Resist China campaign and establish consistent cross-movement cooperation between Tibetans, Uyghurs, Hong Kongers, Southern Mongolians, Taiwanese, and Chinese dissidents.
To honour those who have fallen victim to the Chinese regime.
To increase public awareness about the different groups who have, under the CCP’s rule, had their fundamental human rights violated and stripped away.
