Initiatives of Change

The panel, which was moderated by Laurie Patton, co-Founder of the Initiative in Religion, Conflict and Peacebuilding at Emory, focused on how religion has contributed toward violence, and on the hopes for change which the panelists see. According to a story on the Emory web site, the 3,000 people attending the event were moved to tears.

The Dalai Lama, who became a presidential distinguished professor at Emory Monday, following a weekend of events, said that all religious traditions have the same potential to provide love and compassion. 'Our work... is not to promulgate religion - that is up to the individual - but to bring or take those valuable things from religion.' Gandhi, who has been closely associated with the work of Initiatives of Change for many years, told a story about Hindus destroying a 16th century mosque in 1992 in the city of Ramkot in Uttar Pradesh. In the process, he said, they also brought down an adjoining hall that was sacred to Hindus. 'When you set out to destroy what you don't like, you also destroy what you like.'

Gandhi, who teaches at the University of Illinois, referred to his grandfather, the Mahatma, who said he preferred the phrase 'Truth is God,' rather than 'God is Truth,' because not so many had been killed in the name of truth as in God's name. If Mahatma Gandhi were alive today, according to Rajmohan Gandhi, he would ask that individuals throw a searchlight on deeds of their own side. 'Let us not fall into the temptation that one faith is uniquely flawed or dangerous,' he said. 'Ask yourselves whether the hate and greed around you are going up or down.'

On 17 Wednesday, the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award in the US, in the Rotunda of the Capitol. Dick and Randy Ruffin from the Initiatives of Change Washington office were honored to be present for this historic event, which paid tribute to the lifelong commitment of His Holiness to building peace, teaching about interdependence and compassion and to working for the cultural and religious autonomy of the Tibetan people.

Links between the Dalai Lama and Initiatives of Change go back to 1959, when he came as a refugee to India. He has visited IofC's international conference centers in Panchgani, India and Caux, Switzerland. Lodi Gyari, who has represented the Dalai Lama in Washington for many years and who is the lead person in negotiations with the Chinese, had a profound experience in Panchgani, many years ago, when a young Chinese woman apologized to him for what her people had done to his.