Teaching

The theme of the public talk is 'Why compassion is essential in our troubled world.'

For many years, His Holiness has had a deep commitment to secular ethics and the importance of compassion in helping to solve the problems we are facing in the world today.

A person's underlying outlook and motivation can certainly affect how he or she responds to life's adversities and dangers. An attitude of kindness and compassion brings a sense of self-confidence, an inner strength that reduces fear.

In fact, an individual's response to danger and ability to deal with fear can often depend more on their outlook and personal characteristics than on the nature of the situation itself.

In the Dalai Lama’s own words: “I am one of the 7 billion human beings alive today. We each have a responsibility to think about humanity and the good of the world because it affects our own future. We weren’t born on this planet at this time to create problems but to bring about some benefit”.