By FEMI ADESINA, The Sun News Online, December 13, 2008

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Lagos, Nigeria -- Spiritual leader of Tibet, the Dalai Lama, was in Nigeria a fortnight ago to deliver the 10th Anyiam-Osigwe Foundation lecture at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, NIIA, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The day after the lecture, Saturday Sun was in his hotel room for an interview, where he spoke on wide ranging issues – except politics. According to him, he was in the country to "promote human value and religious harmony," so political questions were ruled out.

The 14th Dalai Lama (real name, Tenzin Gyatso) is also a 1989 Nobel Peace Prize winner. He spoke about terrorism in the world, how the world can be a safer place, his role as a spiritual leader, healing powers, his opinion about Nigeria, among other issues.

The Dalai Lama is a Buddhist monk. That means no marriage, no sex. How does he cope? And does he ever get tempted by the opposite sex?

All the answers in the interview below:

At the Anyiam-Osigwe Foundation lecture which you came to deliver, you spoke about fear leading to a compromised immune system. Can you expatiate on it?

Actually, I’m not a scientist, but scientists have looked seriously into our emotions. They have found out that emotion and physical health are closely linked. Two patients with the same illness, but one patient is mentally happy, calm, more enthusiastic, and he recovers much faster. I think I belong to that category (laughs). The other patient with same situation, same illness, but too much worry, with a pessimistic attitude, does not recover, or takes a long time to recover.
And also for preventive measure, the person who is always fresh, confident, has better immune system. A scientist from an American university told me once that anger, very serious anger, is injurious to health. It leads to hatred, which eats up the immune system.

As a spiritual leader, do you have healing powers?
As a Buddhist monk, you study five different courses. Logic, craft, medicine, literature, Buddhist philosophy. But healing powers? No, no, no. If I had healing powers, then first I would heal myself of the gall bladder problem, for which I had surgery (laughs). But I had to go for modern technology. If I had healing power, I wouldn’t need that. It therefore means I have no healing powers. I’m very skeptical about such claims. Very, very skeptical. It does not mean people do not get healed miraculously. It happens. One of my French friends, who has been a Buddhist nun for about 30 years, told me that she got cured of some ailment in her hands. It may happen, but I’m very skeptical. By chance maybe, one or two. But you can’t say it’s definite.

Furthermore, Buddhists are more of scientists, rather than believers. Buddha himself made it clear that his followers should not accept his word, his teachings out of faith and devotion. Rather, they should investigate. So in 2,600 years of Buddhist history, many Buddhist masters have checked, investigated Buddha’s words. If we just accept Buddha’s own words, it will be contradictory to our own logical investigation. Even some people consider Buddha an ancient scientist. Since my childhood, I’ve had keen interest in science and technology. We must accept the reality, rather than what literature says. I have developed a keen interest in talking or meeting with scientists, and learning from them. I’m usually interested in learning four things: Cosmology, neurology, physics and psychology. Buddhism and science complement each other. An American lady friend once told me that science is a killer of religion, so be careful. I asked how. Buddhism itself emphasizes logic and reason. Experiment rather than faith. So there should not be any sort of contradiction.
I have keen interest in finding out reality. In my lecture, I mentioned that self, or ‘I’ is the center of the whole universe. But at the same time, it is good to investigate. What is self? No answer, we can’t find it.

It’s your first time in Nigeria. What’s your impression of the country?
Very nice, but very hot. The hotel is very good, but the first night, the air conditioning in the bedroom failed, and it was very hot (long laughter).
And of course, I know that because of the oil and gas that you have in Nigeria, the country is rich and has great potentials. The standard of education is better here compared to the neighbouring countries. You have achieved democracy, and it is working, it’s good. You had a civil war, but now, it’s all settled.
However, there is a wide gap between the rich and the poor. A small number are very rich, millionaires, while the vast number is poor. Unlike India, which also has a gap between the rich and the poor, but number of middle class is quite big. I think Nigeria should close the gap between the rich and the poor by increasing the middle class, in order to utilize the national wealth more equally.

Your Holiness, you are scheduled to meet President Nicholas Sarkozy of France, and China is not happy about it.
This looks like a political matter. My visit here is purely non-political. I’m here for promotion of human value, promotion of religious harmony. These are the two reasons I’m here. Soon after Sarkozy became president, he expressed wishes to see me. I was in France, but he could not see me, he sent his beautiful wife. So now, he’s free to see me, and has invited me and Lech Walesa, the former Polish president. I have known Walesa for many years.