Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 41-minute youth forum held in Sydney, His Holiness the Dalai Lama responds to searching questions about forgiveness, reconciliation, and the role of young people in society. Opening with a question from a Bosnian refugee about forgiving those who have caused war and suffering, he reframes forgiveness not as weakness but as a hard-headed rejection of the destructive mental habits—hatred, resentment, ill will—that poison the one who harbors them. He explains that genuine forgiveness coexists with principled action: one can work to stop wrongdoing and assert legitimate rights while maintaining compassion toward the wrongdoer. Drawing on Tibet’s own long struggle for cultural and spiritual freedom, he illustrates how this applies to his own practice. He addresses indigenous reconciliation in Australia with emphasis on listening to grievances, building genuine compassion rooted in human equality rather than pity, and developing the warm-heartedness needed for shared community. Throughout, he stresses that young people must cultivate inner values—mindfulness, respect, altruism—alongside their education, so that knowledge serves human wellbeing rather than harm.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 2025-05-02 – 1B – Ask The Dalia Lama Youth Forum Syd – KR.mp3
UUID: d40baab9-78b3-4761-8a03-e919fd710f96
Teacher: HH Dalai Lama
Collection: Dalai Lama Talks
Date: 2025-05-02
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~3,220
Your Holiness, our next question comes from Amina. Your Holiness, I originally came from Bosnia, and I’m now living in Australia. For all people who have been through war and experience what it means to be a refugee, Can you please tell me how it is possible to forgive? Forgive? According to my belief, tolerance and forgiveness is something related with the moderation side.
Someone hurts you or harm on you or brings a lot of suffering on your community, then out of sort of hatred, ill feeling towards the troublemaker, that actually is no use, no help. I think it’s more sort of frustration, more ill feeling towards enemy side actually gives you more frustration and more uncomfortable. And certainly the ill feeling destroys your own peace of mind. Eventually, even if it constantly ill feeling, you see, keeps here, eventually your health also suffers. So if you think reality, then the keeping ill feeling in our heart is of no use.
I feel that is the real meaning of tolerance, real meaning of forgiveness. Not keeping ill feeling towards them, towards anyone. Now, as far as action, or some way of saying, effort, is it to regain your own right, and also the action to stop their misbehavior, wrongdoing. That, I think, should carry. Forgiveness does not mean we always abandon these sort of Condemnation.
Struggle. I think struggle as a condemnation. Struggle, if necessary, I think both sides. I mean, both fields, of them. I I think two reasons.
One, yes, you have your own legitimate right to restore their legitimate right is reasonable. And then also, out of sense of concern of your enemy’s behavior and stop their wrongdoing out of concern of their own future. If it is a wrongdoing person, let them carry it continuously. Ultimately, they suffer. So out of sense of concern, sense of compassion of them, try to stop as a form of condemnation.
That I think should should do. Now in our own case, Tibetan case, the lot of sufferings, lot of sad news. Now last now thirty forty three years since we come to India, refugee political asylum. Now news from our home. I’m not happy one.
Always, I think, very sad. Generally, very sad. Some cases, a little comparatively more good news. Otherwise, it’s very sad. Always sad news.
That there is danger because of that develop ill feeling towards Chinese brothers and sisters. That we deliberately try to because of that. Prevent. We try to prevent. Meantime, we carry our struggle for our own basic right.
And also, out of sense of concern, We should make clear these are wrong. These are wrong policies, wrongdoing to the Chinese brothers and sisters. So we maintain, try to maintain affection or compassion towards the so called enemy. But at the same time, so is in not keeping ill feeling. Directly try to try to prevent development of hatred.
But work is concerned, continuously, we carry. So forgiveness, not to forget. Does not mean love. Does not mean forget. Keep what happened in our mind and whole mind and carry struggle without ill feeling.
I think that’s the proper. Forgiveness I think that’s the proper meaning of forgiveness, not to harbor ill will. Tolerance forgiveness Sometimes there is a danger of misunderstanding the concept of forgiveness as entailing some kind of giving in submission, which is wrong. Yes. Full stop.
Your Holiness, our final question from up here before we might have time to ask some from the audience is is from Tim. Your Holiness, as an aboriginal person in Australia, the process of reconciliation between indigenous and non indigenous people has been very important. What do you think needs to be done individually and collectively to take the process forward? And a related but broader question, what role do you see for young people, not just in terms of the future, but also in terms of what they can contribute today? And the first part, I feel unhappy sort of feeling, both sides must express openly, not keep.
And with that, I think constant sort of meeting with indigenous people and, you see, give them some kind of confidence. You are part of them in this continent. You live together. So therefore, they all belong to this sort of continent. So let them eventually develop some kind of, you see, the I think the same community.
Sense of being part of the same community. And then, you see, they remove their sort of, I think, sense of fear or sense of some others uncomfortable feeling. I think, try to crisp No. Dispel. And receive all their sort of what’s it?
Do need. No. Listen to all the grievances. I think human level, I think that’s best. I think that’s important.
Then legal or some other things, I think, we eventually, I think with that warm heartedness, a sense of caring, a sense of community, a compassionate attitude. No. Here is compassion, not in the sense of pity. Right? No.
Pity. Someone facing some difficulties, your position is a little higher and they look down. Not that. Genuine compassion is genuine sense of caring with respect, out of respect. So I think I think I may explain, maybe.
I think it may be useful to explain. Genuine compassion is the what is it? Firstly, not feeling. Feeling looked down and and sort of feeling of bitterness. Not that way.
And secondly, genuine compassion is unbiased. So, genuine sense of concern is not only your own relative, your own close friends, but also your enemy. Because enemy, also human being, generally speaking, enemy I mean, generally speaking, human being human being, and part of you, of we. So they also have the right. They also have the right to be happy.
Yet, they go through some difficulties, some painful experiences. So, as a human being, as I realize, or recognize as a human being, human brothers and sisters, then out of that is a sense of concern, sense of caring. That is genuine compassion. Usually also, love and compassion is towards one’s own relative or or close friends. That is more like more mixed with attachment, not genuine sense of caring or sense of sort of compassion.
So so out of compassion, respect their right, and consider them also part of our own society, and take care. The second part. I think every day, while you are carrying study, I think while you are acquiring knowledge, different experience, I feel I always believe and also share with other people. You also should constantly think about the value of human values, sense of caring, sense of sort of sharing, compassion, these things, I think very important. Because the education brain, smart brain, is just like instrument.
So whether that instrument use a constructive way, destructive way depend on user. So that is hard. If we use our knowledge more, how should we benefit we can this bring good to others as well as oneself? If this brilliant mind is used some other way Now, example, cause of September eleventh, yes. September 11.
September 11. September 11. Such horrible sort of act without a brilliant mind, you can’t know. Not years, but at least, I think weeks and months planned, calculated. Everything measured, calculated.
So therefore, these people who carry such horrible acts, they really have a brilliant mind. So the brilliant human mind guided by human hatred, then with the help of modern technology, then disaster is immense. So so therefore, I think, see, it is important while you are acquiring education, knowledge, taking care of the brain, you also should think, analyse about warm heart. That is very important. Then make more friends in your class.
One time, I think in 1973, in England, one of the universities where I give some talk. Before my talk, in one room, I read it. And I think one class because of the One class was coming out of the session. And some student, young student, they’re very running, shouting and very, very happily. That’s good.
But then, the in the in the the playground. Oh, playground.
One bag, one bag there. Suddenly, that belong one student. There must be some bands or some I think the books must be there. But then one student is running. So during the break when all the students were coming out very happily and enthusiastically, I noticed that in the courtyard, there was a school bag.
Obviously, it belonged to one of the students. And I noticed among the among the boys, one of them ran towards it and and used it as a stepping stone and and jumped over it. And it made me feel quite uncomfortable. I felt, oh, that’s too much. At least, you see, if his own bag, you use someone else, you see, go like that, what he feel?
How does he say? So whether you see the owner of that bag, presence or not, still the owner is there. So then you just lose the control there. Without regarding what? Without any regard.
Without any sort of a sense of how much hurt, what what broke inside. Just to run. That’s I think too much. So is there some young people go like that? That’s, I think, the senseless.
That’s not good. So I think while we are sort of shouting more, that is all that, and playing sometimes even more madly, good. But sometimes, the constant sort of mindfulness, whether this act, whether it hurts others or not, I think that’s important. Clear. Your Holiness, we have time to get some questions from the audience.
If you would like. If somebody does have a question in the audience, if you stick up your hand, there’s a few people with microphones, and we’ll get close. Perhaps if there’s the guy on the aisle just down there, Johnny. Yep. Hello.
Hello, Your Holiness. I’ve just got one question for you. Your struggle to free Tibet has been a long struggle. I just wanna know how to keep up with that struggle and in a more general sense, how is your own health? Can you repeat the last part?
Can you repeat the last part? Just a general question. I’m just wondering about his own health and how he’s going with, you know, his struggle. The Tibetan struggle. Basically, of course, as a Tibetan, we have our I think, civilization, according to some Chinese archaeologists, the Tibetan civilization, Tibetan form of civilization, more than eight thousand years.
And then, also, to Au, recently, I heard through radio the one, I think, professor from, I think, one university in Hong Kong or something, he found Tibetan Tibetan sort of races in Tibet for eighteen thousand years or years or something like that. So in any way, we have our own unique cultural heritage, and especially Buddhism came to Tibet. Buddhism flourished into Tibet. With Tibetan, the whole way of life changed. So we have our own unique sort of, its own culture.
Culture heritage. That is basically a more peaceful cultural heritage. And then, suddenly, the Tibetan language is entirely something different than the Chinese language. The written also is entirely different. So, the Tibetan, we have our own sort of, I think, the complete sort of as well.
Identity. And quite rich ancient cultural heritage. So therefore, unless the Chinese government genuinely respects or appreciate the Tibetan culture, Tibetan, I would say, spirituality, I think the problem will remain. So since it is a Tibetan nation, as I mentioned earlier, one ancient nation with a unique cultural heritage, so Tibetan spirit so long Tibetan remain, Tibetan spirit will remain. This is not a question of just one generation or two generations.
This is the struggle of a nation. So already, I think more than fifty years passed since I left Tibet. Now forty three years past. Tibetan spirit inside Tibet, still very strong. The younger generation, some cases, I think even stronger than the previous generation.
So I think the struggle will continue. Whether I or not, resilient struggle for our basic right will remain. So as far as my own physical condition is concerned, recently I got sick. Some sick, what are called here? Intestinal infection I can’t pronounce that properly.
So you see, that problem. I do one strange story. Recent years, I think two years, since I think last, I think two or three years, I am very healthy. But in Tibet, as well as in China, some rumors, I think, deliberately created by some Chinese agents. Dalai Lama is sick.
Dalai Lama is cancer patient. So why am sort of healthy? Recent actually, think January this year actually fourteenth January this year, I got sick. So then I compared to cancer, my sort of one important spiritual engagement in Bodh Gaya. Actually, I think for that spiritual sort of occasion, I think many people gathered there, but I had to cancel.
But then, you see, some Chinese authorities in Tibet, they said that Dalai Lama is not sick. Dalai Lama is just pretending as he is sick, sick person. So in order to gain more sympathy from outside. So he is pretending sick. So actually, I was sick.
When I’m not sick, they said that I was a cancer patient. John, if you wanna come down in the middle, can you reach someone? Can you reach? There’s a girl in the middle who’s got a hand, who had it up at the start, who’s there she’s. Hi.
As you give plenty of people inspiration and make people feel at ease, what is it that gives you inspiration? I think, originally, of course, basically, I am Buddhist. I am Buddhist monk. I am a practitioner. Not necessarily a very serious practitioner.
But certainly, I consider myself as a one practitioner. So now I take one example. Usually, got up 03:30 morning. So then at least, I think, four hours, some meditation, some analytical meditation. Also evening, one hour like that.
And then, of course, I constantly remind myself as a Buddhist practitioner, as a Buddhist monk, even in my dream. I always remember in my dream I am a monk, I am a Buddhist monk. Certainly, one of my main practice is altruism. So at the time of what’s the Nobel Prize Nobel Peace Prize announced, and I told I expressed the after sort of announced that price, still, I’m a simple Buddhist monk. No more, no less, I expressed.
Then as far as sort of the work for peace, that’s because my main practice is compassion, altruism, non violence. That is part of my spiritual practice. So then I think for that, the some Buddhist own word and many Indian masters, they said they their texts, think actually helping or shaping my mind. So more compassionate mind, that really gives me some kind of inner strength and also widens my perspective. So there are problems.
Not much sort of disturb in my mind. Of course, there are some very serious sort of disturbances happen, or a series of tragic things happen. And of course, in a short moment, some uncomfortable. Even sometimes it is a little angry. Anger, great anger, but not remaining long.
Sometimes So I describe like the water, seawater. On the surface, some waves come to go, come to go, but underneath, remain calm. So that is the situation. I think that is the main reason. Then I think the second factor, when I met people, I always considered another human brother, sister, saying, I do not care what is their background, whether are socially educated or uneducated, or rich or poor, or this land or that land, I do not care, so long as that person brings some smile on their face.
Sincere through I, some sincerity. I feel very happy. So that gives me some kind of I think I think the my own sort of, how should I say, calm attitude or friendly attitude brings their response. And their response gives me another sort sort of of strength. So occasionally, when I met someone who really is showing a little different way, then at the beginning, I always share, I always show, I I always treat, usually, just him brothers and sisters.
Inside that, if that person shows a little different, then I also sometimes act accordingly. Your your holiness, unfortunately, it’s we’ve come to the end of our time. Would you like to make a few closing remarks before we finish up? Remarkably, was saying. Uh-huh.
Well, some of these questions are very, very I think I think that’s all the indication of your seriousness. So I very much appreciate. Of course, I wish we have more time to interact. If we have more time, then some silly questions may come. But but in any But but in any way, I really enjoy this this session.
So our meeting is just short period. Just a small portion of our daily life. And out of year, very, very, very, a drop, small drop. So important is our daily life, and especially for you, long future. I wish you will have long future, happy life, meaningful life.
In order to have meaningful life, major factor is yourself. No one else. No God, even God, presence there, presence of God, unless we ourselves think well, while doing well, like Buddha, for me, Buddha, Buddha Śākyamūni. If I do wrong, Buddha Śākyamūni can’t help me. So, therefore, Buddha stated, you are your own master.
So with that belief, I usually care myself or compassionate way and treat other brothers, sisters just like part of myself. So that I consider meaningful life. Meaningful life of day to days, day by day, and week by week, month by month, year by year, through that way, whole life, and fulfill meaningful life. So that is important. So we are same.
So you also have the same potential. I think same for the future. So think well. With self confidence, you carry your own future destination by yourself. Then, of course, everybody here, even youth, very healthy, one day you have to die.
Think as me, I think as now 67 years old, I think my death may be a little sooner than some you. Sooner or later, everybody had to die. That last day, last breath. And then when you look back your whole life, you have the sort of feeling, Oh, I have done all my life, some meaningful life, something purposeful. Something at least that means means something good thing done for other, and at least not harm on other, till you feel happy.
Thank you. Goodbye. Your Holiness, this is a gift from the Inspire Foundation, a gift for you. Thank you. That’s a gift for you.
Thank you. Thank you. You. My pleasure. With my prayer.
Thank you. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if I could quickly just remind everyone, if we could just stay in the room for a couple of minutes, that would just help with security procedures. Thank you very much. Could you please thank all of our people who ask questions here today?
Thank you so much to everyone here. Thank you.