About the Dalai Lama’s Visit to Auckland, 2009

My daughter kindly gave me two tickets to see the Dalai Lama on the 5th December, 2009. His Holiness visited Auckland, New Zealand, on this date: I remember the date because it was my daughter’s birthday.  I was sorry that she could not go, as she had  bought these tickets in advance, and was really looking forward to hearing the Dalai Lama’s message of Peace and Love and Forgiveness.

On the previous visit to Auckland by the Dalai Lama, much was made of his presence here. The whole of Auckland was on a buzz of peace and love. Many supporters of  the Dalai Lama  gathered to celebrate, no matter if they could not go to the formal address of his Holiness. No matter whether they were Buddhist, or Christian, or Moslem, or Hindu, or Seik. Masses of people were up at the Aotea Centre with placards of greeting and messages of peace, not to mention ‘Freedom for Tibet’ messages.

This recent visit in December, 2009,  was a contrast, for sure. While the auditorium was full on the first day, and fairly well attended for the longer discussion on the second day, the crowds in the streets were not celebrating the visit at all. The presence of the Dalai Lama  seemed to have gone by unnoticed, especially because of the fact that some vaguely political demonstration had been staged along the main street of Auckland on the very same day, at the same time, that we were heading downtown to hear the Dalai Lama.

I wonder about the timeliness of this demonstration, and suspect that it was deliberately staged as a distraction from the Dalai Lama’s visit. The NZ Herald had published several small announcements months before the visit, which indicated  that the Auckland Chinese Business Association had managed to,  temporarily, at least, block the visit of this Holy man. One article quoted a spokesperson for the Chinese Business Association of Auckland as saying that the ‘Dalai Lama spread negative propaganda and lies about the Chinese Government’. He was a ‘separatist’, and so on.

It seems so sad that many of the wealthy Chinese residents of New Zealand are opposed to the Dalai Lama. Their view, though, is not necessarily representative of ALL Chinese people in New Zealand. Although the Chinese community, we were told, had been warned to stay away from the Dalai Lama on this visit, many turned up to hear him, and were duly photographed on the way out by what looked to be Chinese security or government officials.

Innocently, because I had two tickets, I offered one of these to a Chinese friend whom I play piano for sometimes. He is a Christian, and a lovely gentle-natured man, born in China:  I thought he might be interested in the message of love and peace which the Dalai Lama would surely deliver. I was extremely shocked and taken aback by the reaction of my friend. He flew into a rage which I had never seen him do before, and began reiterating the very things I which the Chinese Business Association had said in the paper:  like the ‘Dalai Lama is evil. He spreads lies about the CHINESE GOVERNMENT’  as if this was a crime against God himself. : ‘He is a separatist. He works with the CIA…….’ and on and on it went.

I talked to friends about the incident. It seemed I had ruined my friendship because of my gesture in offering a free ticket ( free Tibet, hopefully) After discussing things, I came to the understanding that many people born in China, though not all, thankfully,  have been brainwashed so much, that they really believe the most incredible things about the chinese government. You just can’t rationalize anything with these pro-communist regime supporters when it comes to motives about why the Chinese took over Tibet, why they kill protesters, and why they kill the practitioners of  Buddhism, Falun gong, and other religions, why they prohibit religion to exist in China, or in Tibet…… It makes me wonder why Christianity, a Western religion, has become a way of life  for this Chinese family in New Zealand, whilst the mention of Buddhism, especially Tibetan Buddhism, inspires such a dreadful response………..

I was lent a friend’s camera for the weekend. This was very lucky for me, as I was close enough to get some very good shots of the Dalai Lama and his followers.

I will ask one of my sons to help me post these up in the next few days, as I am not having a lot of success in transferring these images today.

Note: merrilyn’s article entitled ‘Free Tibet’