Dharamshala: New Zealand’s Labour Party leader Phil Goff, who is also the current Leader of the Opposition, held talks with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who arrived in Auckland on Friday for a two-day visit, Television New Zealand reported.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama on the same day spoke to an audience of around 1000 people at Auckland’s Vector Arena on the subject of ‘A Peaceful Mind’.
At the invitation of the Tibetan Buddhist community of New Zealand, His Holiness will give a Buddhist teaching on ‘Nagarjuna’s Commentary on Bodhicitta’ at the same venue on Sunday.
Prime Minister John Key chose not to meet His Holiness, noting they had met before and there was no need for another meeting.
Key has denied being pressured by China not to meet His Holiness the Dalai Lama, but said in November “We would understand the way the Chinese would deal with these things, but on the other side of the coin that wasn’t the over-riding factor.”
On 7 December, His Holiness will return to Australia to continue his lecture series and other programmes.
His Holiness will give a public talk on Compassion in Diversity organised by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Australia Committee in Hobart on 8 December.
On December 9, His Holiness will address the closing plenary of the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Melbourne. His Holiness will join representatives from diverse religious traditions to discuss over-riding issues such as conflict resolution, earth charter as a global ethics, food and water-justice for all, religion, HIV/AIDS and healthcare, caring practices for the earth and inter-faith action for peace in Africa.