A Message of Peace & Compassion is a part of Series 1 but it departs greatly in style and substance from the other DVDs in the series. His Holiness is traveling throughout the UK making stops in Liverpool, London and Glasgow in May and June of 2004. There he is received by important men and women in political office and citizens from various religious communities.
Tony Blair declined to meet with His Holiness on this visit, however they did meet five years earlier. There are many short chapters in this 60-minute DVD compared to the other ones because it included a full touring itinerary for His Holiness out and about in the UK which included a visit with the Tibetan community in the UK. Even though in exile he is considered the titular head as well as the spiritual guide of the Tibetan people. I watched this highly professional documentary film with great interest and reverence.
The chapters in this DVD: "His Holiness arrives in Liverpool, receives a honorary fellowship from John Moore University & gives talk: Secular Ethics"; "Meeting with Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams at Lambeth Palace and Jack Straw Foreign Secretary in Houses of Parliament"; "An audience with Tibetan Community in UK"; "His Holiness receives Christmas Humphreys Memorial Award from the Buddhist Society"; "Temenos Interfaith Lecture: A Human Approach to World Peace"; "Meeting Michael Howard, leader of the opposition and talks to the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tibet"; "Press Conference at Foreign Press Association"; "His Holiness arrives in Glasgow and meets Lord Provost Liz Cameron"; "His Holiness arrives at SECC, Tibetan music performance, Celtic music performance and piper"; "Public Talk: Inner Peace, Outer Harmony."
In this film we see His Holiness in many human and relaxed moments sipping tea and talking to his gracious hosts. He accepts his honors with a grace and humility that is almost childlike. But when it comes to speaking his mind he is adept at the hard sell of peace, harmony and non violence.
His first talk begins by defining "secular ethics" that means a rejection of any one particular faith yet tolerance of all religions because all are seen equally. From Wikipedia the full definition of secular ethics reads: "a branch of moral philosophy in which ethics is based solely on human faculties such as logic, reason or moral intuition, and not derived from purported supernatural revelation or guidance." And if you know anything about Buddhism you recognize that this fits their belief system. It also holds up under separation of church scrutiny. His Holiness speaking says that more emphasis should be placed on secular ethics and it should be introduced in the universities.
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