His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Mpilo Tutu of South Africa is a great living moral icon of our time. He was the first black South African Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, and primate of the Anglican Church of South Africa.
Desmond Tutu played a key role in the fight against South Africa’s apartheid system of racial segregation and white-minority rule. As the general-secretary of the South African Council of Churches, he became one of South Africa’s most prominent anti-apartheid activists. He was against using violence in that struggle and emphasized the role of peaceful protests and foreign economic pressure in achieving full rights for the blacks.
In 1984, even before the fall of apartheid, Desmond Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel Committee attached importance to Desmond Tutu’s role as a unifying leader figure in the campaign to resolve the problem of apartheid in South Africa. The Committee said, “The means by which this campaign is conducted is of vital importance for the whole of the continent of Africa and for the cause of peace in the world. Through the award of this year’s Peace Prize, the Committee wishes to direct attention to the non-violent struggle for liberation to which Desmond Tutu belongs, a struggle in which black and white South Africans unite to bring their country out of conflict and crisis.”
In 1986, Bishop Tutu was elevated to Archbishop of Cape Town, and in this capacity, he did much to bridge the chasm between black and white Anglicans in South Africa. As Archbishop, Tutu became a principal mediator and conciliator in the transition to democracy in South Africa. In 1995, President Nelson Mandela appointed the Desmond Tutu as the Chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a body set up to probe gross human rights violations that occurred under apartheid. It was an unparalleled exercise to heal the deep wounds left by the apartheid system.
Later Desmond Tutu turned his attention to a different cause: the campaign against HIV/AIDS. The Archbishop made appearances around the globe to help raise awareness of the disease and its tragic consequences in human lives and suffering. Today, Archbishop Tutu is regarded as an elder world statesman with a major role to play in reconciliation, and as a leading moral voice.
Afterword: There are two great world leaders, who have both seen a lot of violence, injustice, and suffering and yet are always smiling and cheerful – One is the Dalai Lama and the other Desmond Tutu. In fact, they are both close friends and have even published a book together (The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World). In May 2020, Desmond Tutu read out to the world a message from the Dalai Lama on the Covid pandemic.
The world has always been changing and it will keep changing for ever. Lasting happiness is when one is able to open the doors of one’s own consciousness. But for ordinary mortals like us, it is the sense of being with less possessions and without accumulating what we don’t need, and to even what we do need, to as minimum as we can think of.