[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 140 (Monday, September 11, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S13208]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



[[Page S 13208]]


        WELCOMING HIS HOLINESS THE DALAI LAMA TO WASHINGTON, DC

  Mr. PELL. Mr. President, I welcome to Washington today one of the 
most honorable and respected leaders of our time, His Holiness the 
Dalai Lama.
  His Holiness is a historical rarity, someone who has devoted his 
entire life to finding a peaceful solution to an overwhelmingly 
difficult political problem with an often belligerent foe. China 
invaded Tibet in 1949, under the banner of ``peaceful liberation,'' but 
the presence of the People's Liberation Army in Tibet since then has 
been neither peaceful nor liberating. The Tibetan people continue to 
suffer repression under the too-often violent control of an outside 
power. But the Dalai Lama's response has been unswervingly one of 
seeking a peaceful solution to Tibet's conflict with China. His 
Holiness' courage and leadership is widely respected in Tibet and has 
assuredly prevented the Tibetans from staging a violent uprising or 
insurgency, the response that suppressed people without such moral 
leadership often take.
  In accepting his Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, His Holiness showed the 
world how all-encompassing his call for peace and compassion was when 
he said he felt no ``anger or hatred toward those who are responsible 
for the immense suffering of our people and the destruction of our 
land, homes, and culture. They too are human beings who struggle to 
find happiness and deserve our compassion.'' How rare in today's 
world--or in the history--to find a leader willing to see the human 
face of his or her enemies and to offer compassion in response to 
oppression. He argues not for retribution but for recognition that 
thoughtfulness and benevolence towards others is in every individual's 
self-interest, and ultimately is essential for relations in an 
increasingly interconnected world. His call for people to accept that 
we are a ``global family'' and recognize that actions we take to hurt 
each other or damage the world we live in--such as acts of war or 
pollution--ultimately harm us as well, is a model for global 
interaction at the end of the 20th century.
  We can learn much from the teachings of this ``simple monk.'' I urge 
my colleagues to meet him at a coffee the Foreign Relations Committee 
is hosting in his honor tomorrow afternoon. Come meet the leader whose 
moral courage and commitment to nonviolence has put him in the ranks of 
leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mohandas Ghandi. While His 
Holiness' visit to Washington is short, I hope his lessons will live on 
in the minds of us all.


                          ____________________