Dalai Lama, cardinal urge greater emphasis on moral education

(September 5, 2009) Moral education, interreligious dialogue and global warming were some of the topics that the Dalai Lama and a Catholic cardinal discussed during a recent dialogue session. Love and compassion are necessary for inner peace and happiness, said the Tibetan spiritual leader and Cardinal Paul Shan Kuo-hsi during the September 2 session, "Heaven's Law and Natural Law: Dialogue on Humanity and Nature." However, the erosion of moral values and materialism has caused distrust among people and damaged relationships in society, the two religious leaders concurred during the event held in Kaohsiung. Cardinal Shan, retired bishop of Kaohsiung, is the only religious figure the Dalai Lama met during his Aug. 30-Sept. 3 visit to Taiwan. The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader was invited by seven counties and cities in the south, which was devastated by Typhoon Morakot on August 8. More than 1,000 people, including Buddhists and Christians, attended the September 2 dialogue held in a hall inside the Hanshin Arena shopping complex. The event was organized by a Tibetan religious foundation in Taiwan. The Dalai Lama said that school education these days focused too much on the material aspects of life rather than moral values. He noted that in the West, it was Churches that provided moral education in the past. Cardinal Shan agreed there is a need to boost moral education, saying human development depends not only on the physical and material, but also on spiritual, ethical and religious values.