I went to see His Holiness the Dalai Lama give a public talk at Radio City in NYC on Sunday. (And my blogging pal, John House, had his own brush with the Dalai Lama a while back. )While it was sometimes difficult to understand His Holiness (English is not his first language), the Dalai Lama is totally on the level. I mean, he gets it and didn’t over-complicate any of his points, which included the importance of cultivating inner peace and inner prosperity (just because you’re financially well off, doesn’t mean you lead a very rich life). Some other great and very simple points (FYI, this is in a nutshell): prayer is great, but if you want to change something, YOU have to be the force behind change—prayer won’t always cut it. We are all connected. We are the same: human beings. Compassion rocks, we should all try to be compassionate. Non violence is a good thing.

The Dalai Lama is also an honest man. At the very beginning of his talk, he made it clear to his audience that if you’re looking for a miracle, you’re essentially barking up the wrong tree—His Holiness doesn’t do miracles and he can’t cure you.

What he does do, and what he did do on Sunday was share his three main commitments in life, in addition to his talk on peace and prosperity.

From the Dalai Lama’s website:

Firstly, on the level of a human being, His Holiness’ first commitment is the promotion of human values such as compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, contentment and self-discipline.

Secondly, on the level of a religious practitioner, His Holiness’ second commitment is the promotion of religious harmony and understanding among the world’s major religious traditions.

Thirdly, His Holiness is a Tibetan and carries the name of the ‘Dalai Lama’. Tibetans place their trust in him. Therefore, his third commitment is to the Tibetan issue.

His Holiness does not have an easy job.

So what do you think of the Dalai Lama and his work?