“Our future rests in your hands”: His Holiness the Dalai lama at Ladakh Public School

Leh, Ladakh: “My generation is nearing its end, but you belong to the 21st century, the start of your lives. You have the chance to bring about change. Change in building a more peaceful world, a world consisting of happier humanity. Widen your thinking. Don’t just keep Ladakh in view. Think about bringing that change in India and the world,” His Holiness the revered 14th Dalai Lama addressed over 1600 students of Ladakh Public School on Saturday, 8 July 2017.

Founder and Chairman of the Ladakh Public School board, Mr Noney P Wangchuk, welcomed His Holiness the Dalai Lam on his arrival and escorted him to the school auditorium, where a thousand students eagerly awaited their honoured guest.

In his address, His Holiness mentioned the significance of education in development and from his perspective Ladakh developed to a great extent in the past fifty years. “The world today seems to be plagued with so many problems and the youth belonging to this generation today will be responsible for resolving and preventing most of such problems. Our future rests in your hands.”

He asked the students if they would prefer people smiling at them or frowning in anger, to which the students in unison replied, “smiling”.  “It’s a reflection of our nature, our natural appreciation of love and compassion. As social animals we need affection. Although anger is part of our varying divergent emotions, it’s very destructive. Love and affection help in creating happier individuals, families and communities”, His Holiness further added.

“My generation is nearing it’s end, but you belong to the 21st century, the start of your lives. You have the chance to bring about change. Change in building a more peaceful world, a world consisting of happier humanity. Widen your thinking. Don’t just keep Ladakh in view. Think about bringing that change in India and the world.”

“In the long run, I believe India can make a contribution to the well-being of the whole of humanity on the basis of ahimsa and karuna. This is why I am encouraging the revival based on the understanding and workings of the mind and emotions derived from ancient Indian knowledge,” His Holiness added.

His Holiness in his address mentioned that we are not only physical beings, we have a mind that could be further nurtured through education. He told the students that the Tibetan that they just started learning would later help them in reading the works of Nalanda Masters, works that have attracted the interests of even scientists today.

“Whenever I have the opportunity I encourage other religious leaders to make clear to their followers that the caste system is out of date. We are all the same, when it comes to being human and whenever I have the chance, I say so. Caste distinctions seems inappropriate to the more democratic era in which we live.”

He concluded by reminding the students once again that their generation has both an opportunity and a responsibility to build a happier, more peaceful world by taking account of the oneness of humanity and thanked the two groups of students for their fervent and energetic presentation of their debate.

Principal of the school, Mr. P. C. Belwal, welcomed His Holiness and introduced him to the audience. The principal talked in brief about the history and background of the school and the recent inclusion of the study of Tibetan, Dialectics and debate, and environmental studies. Two groups of students then engaged in a lively demonstration of their dialectical abilities through debate.