In his introductory address, His Holiness the Dalai Lama said his efforts are directed towards the welfare of the entire 7 billion people in this world.
As a practitioner of Buddhism, I always pray for the happiness and well-being of the entire sentient beings, he said.
All the people living in this world are interrelated and the future well-being of one individual is linked with that of the world’s entire 7 billion people, he said.
If the over all situation in this world is peaceful, happy and without conflicts, an individual person will get great benefit from it.
His Holiness said: I always consider myself as one of the 7 billion people and that we are all made up of the same physical body. Our feelings are also same as that of human beings. More importantly, we all want to lead a happy life and do not want suffering. As nobody likes conflicts, all have the same right to lead a happy life.
We try to seek happiness in our lives from material things. Even though the material values are important part of our needs, but it alone can not develop the inner peace. I hope you all have experienced this. When there is success and lots of money in one’s life, the feeling of greed, hatred and suspicion increases. Therefore, depending only on material things will sometimes bring extra problem and panic in one’s life, he said.
The root source of our happiness – His Holiness the Dalai Lama said – is the value of our way of thinking.
More than 5,000 people, including 300 Buddhist followers from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Hong Kong are attending the teachings.