In his address to the public, which included over 10,000 people, Dalai Lama covered a variety of topics from the abolition of the death penalty in Illinois State to conflict over religion. The highlight of his talk was the idea that the very purpose of religion is to create inner peace and the conflicts that happen in the name of religion are not about faith but about power and money. The lack of awareness contributes to that because all religions promote practice of love, forgiveness, tolerance, truth and justice.

At the end of the ceremony, Jennifer Beals, along with Governor Pat Quinn and Tim Boyd, received a Blessing Scarf from His Holiness. Offering a white scarf, which is called “kata”, is an ancient Tibetan tradition, in which the white color symbolizes purity of intention and aspiration and the scarf is given as offering when visiting a temple, shrine, guru, or teacher. This tradition also goes hand in hand with an ancient Tibetan proverb that teaches about a universal karmic principle of giving and receiving. “The more you give, the more you receive.”

(credit to jennifer-beals.com for the videos)

How’s your summer going?