“Every human being wants to lead a happy life and from the moment we’re born we have a right to do so. While there is no guarantee that things will work out well, it’s hope that helps us survive.

“After my talk I’d like to take questions. If you disagree with me, say so. I love to have an argument. To just say “Yes” all the time is a waste of human intelligence.

‘Now, my main point is that joy and happiness are mental experiences and according to our day to day experience, mental satisfaction is superior to physical pleasure. We need material development, but if we depend on material things alone to find happiness, we’ll be making a mistake. We need also to pay attention to inner values; we need warm-heartedness.”

His Holiness stressed that despite the advances of the last couple of centuries we still face a multitude of problems. Nobody wants problems, he said, no one gets up in the morning looking forward to having problems. Nevertheless, many of them are our own creation. Why is this? Our basic human nature is compassionate because we start our lives in the lap of affection. Problems arise as a result of our predominantly self-centred attitude. Too much self-centredness and short-sightedness skews our attitude and gives rise to problems. Consequently, we need more effective methods and the necessary conviction to bring about change in our minds.

“The important thing is education,” he said. “Modern education is oriented towards material values, but lacks a corresponding sense of warm-heartedness. This is where we need to focus our attention. We need to find ways to introduce ethics into education and encourage more people to develop warm-heartedness. While many of you may pray to go to heaven, even more important is to make the effort to create heaven here on earth.”

In response to various questions His Holiness remarked that if this twenty-first century could be made a century of peace and compassion, human society would be much happier. He also commented that technology can be very useful, but it depends on how we use it. About abortion he said that it is basically an act of killing and should be avoided if possible. However, it is difficult to generalize and each case needs to be judged according to the circumstances involved. An Indian man told him of the difficulties he and his Mexican wife had had persuading their families to accept their marriage. His Holiness observed that this was a case where accepting each other as fellow human beings, rather than focussing on secondary differences of faith and nationality, would make things easier. He recalled hearing that the veteran Italian communist leader Enrico Berlinguer, a staunch atheist himself, was quite willing to drive his wife to church every Sunday.

After lunch, President Fox interviewed His Holiness for his television show on TV Azteca. In the course of their conversation, His Holiness talked about his life up to the point of his retirement from political responsibility two years ago. President Fox asked him why he did that and he replied:

“Since childhood I have admired democracy and felt that as Tibet belongs to the Tibetan people it would be more appropriate. I accepted political responsibility in 1950 and set up a reform committee in 1952 with mixed results. So when we came into exile we gradually resumed reform and the introduction of democracy. In 2001 I semi-retired and in 2011 retired completely.”

Speaking in the Fox Center afterwards he said:

“I am very happy to be here and able to share some of my thoughts with you. I have three main commitments in my life. As a human being I promote the adoption of human values to achieve a happier life. As a Buddhist, I believe that all religious traditions carry the same message, so it’s important to foster respectful harmony among them. Thirdly, as a Tibetan, I believe that Tibetan culture is a culture of peace and compassion and so is worth preserving. Equally, the fragile ecology of Tibet needs to be preserved too.

“Now I’d prefer to interact with you and answer whatever questions you may have.”

The first concerned what political system His Holiness favours. He replied:

“If we want to establish genuine democracy, it’s not good for everything to depend on one person. The world trend is towards democracy. The world belongs to its 7 billion people, just as each country belongs to the people who live there. That’s why it’s better to elect leaders who are accountable. In the Tibetan community in exile, we have gradually achieved an elected leadership.

Another questioner asked for clarification of the word ‘compassion’ for someone who had not heard it before. His Holiness explained that there are two kinds: spontaneous compassion whose scope is limited and reasoned compassion brought about by analysis. The latter is stronger because it is voluntary and the result of training.

To a question about autism in relation to destructive emotions, His Holiness said he didn’t know and that there needed to be more research into it. This is something he thought the Mind Life Institute, which is dedicated to building a scientific understanding of the mind to reduce suffering and promote well-being, might well look into.

Finally, one of President Fox’s grand-daughters stood up and, saying she had no question to put to him, asked His Holiness to keep Mexico in his heart. The room filled with applause and he answered:

“Certainly.”

From the Fox Center His Holiness drove to Leon airport to fly to Zacatecas, where tomorrow he will take part in an inter-religious dialogue and give a public talk.