Dalai Lama

I'm very excited about the next film presentation that will be at FOR on 11/22. Please also note that we will have a speaker, Rev. Janet Kroboth-Weber, who has worked with the filmmaker and the Indigenous Grandmothers whose story is told in the film.

in peace,

Alan Levin

Pre-film screening interview on Nov. 11th @ 3:30 PM :

LISTEN TO: www.RocklandWorldRadio.com/program/connections/

PROGRAM: Connections with Deborah Turner

TOPIC: 13 Indigenous Grandmothers Council & Film

Guest: Rev. Janet Kroboth-Weber, assistant to the Council and endorsed public speaker

This show will be ARCHIVED

Deborah Turner ~Publisher--Natural Awakenings Rockland and Orange

www.naturalawakeningsro.com 845-480-9006

The International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR) has just forwarded the exciting news that it will be hosting a meeting next week between Tibetan and Chinese community leaders. The message from Johannes Schot, executive director of IFOR, reported:

The International Secretariat is herewith proud to announce the news that the International Fellowship of Reconciliation, in cooperation with the Swiss Tibetan Friendship Association, has invited the Dalai Lama for a conference in Geneva between Chinese and Tibetan scholars, scientists, journalists and other members of Chinese and Tibetan civil society. The conference is proceeding as planned, held from 6 – 8 August.

A belief in the power of dialogue must be at the center of our understanding of social change. As Hildegard Goss-Mayr said, "Interaction with the Other is .... not a menace but an enrichment. When we reach this state, we will be able to recognize the revelation of Hod in the other and to accept the gift of their truth."

Last week, this was in evidence in an unusual setting -- a meeting betwee the Dalai Lama and a group of Chinese leaders in New York City. As this article by my friend Matt Weiner of the Interfaith Center of New York reports, while many Chinese have resisted efforts by Tibetans for self-determination, some now are open to hearing out the spiritual leader -- or at least to engaging in conversation about their differences.

The nexus of the coming summer Olympic Games and the weather catastrophes of recent months in China and Burma have opened a new window of curiosity and interest to the issues of Buddhism, Democracy, Globalization, Compassion and Spiritual leadership. Few are bettered positioned to provide insights than Iyer who met the Dalai Lama through visits with his father when a child and whose curiosity about the “East” has sustained him as a writer for decades, include frequent circlings through the presence of the Dalai Lama and Dharmasala.