Dalai Lama's message: Move beyond 'bloodshed'

Dalai Lama's message: Move beyond 'bloodshed'

The Dalai Lama listens to introductions Saturday, prior to his speech at Qwest Field in Seattle.

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Story Published: Apr 12, 2008 at 1:48 PM PDT

Story Updated: Apr 13, 2008 at 1:33 PM PDT

By MANUEL VALDES, Associated Press Writer

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SEATTLE - The Dalai Lama spoke Saturday about having hope for the future and the need for humanity to look past a century of "bloodshed" toward a period of dialogue.

In his keynote speech to more than 50,000 at Qwest Field during the second of a five-day conference on compassion, the Tibetan leader did not address the situation in Tibet.

However, before the Dalai Lama's speech, Lama Tenzin Dhonden, a Tibetan monk who spearheaded the Seeds of Compassion event, said Tibet only seeks autonomy.

Marchers in an opening procession carry flags of Tibet as they march to welcome the Dalai Lama at Qwest Field in Seattle.
"Granting autonomy would be good for Tibet and also good for China, but autonomy requires China's commitment to serious dialogue," Dhonden said.

The Tibetan leader says he will address the Tibetan situation at an early Sunday news conference.

Organizers of the Seeds of Compassion say the event is essentially nonpolitical, but references to Tibet have been sprinkled throughout the first two days.

"Twentieth century become like century of bloodshed. I think it is our own responsibility to make this century be century of dialogue," the Dalai Lama said.

Recent protests in Tibet against five decades of Chinese rule have been the largest and most sustained in almost two decades and have fueled protests that have disrupted the global torch relay for the Beijing Games.

China has accused the Dalai Lama of being involved in the uprising. He has said that he wants greater autonomy for the remote mountain region, but is not seeking independence.

Gov. Chris Gregoire welcomes the Dalai Lama prior to his speech at Qwest Field in Seattle.
In Sanya, China, meanwhile, Chinese President Hu Jintao said Tibetan issues are for China to deal with alone.

In his first comments on the unrest, the official Xinhua News Agency quoted Hu as saying Saturday that the matter is "entirely an internal issue of China."

Hu said China's conflict with followers of the Dalai Lama is not an issue of ethics, religion or human rights. He said it is a problem "either to safeguard national unification or to split the motherland."

A handful of pro-China demonstrators distributed flyers in the sunshine outside some entrances to Qwest Field as people filed into the football stadium.

The flyers listed the benefits of China's presence in Tibet and critiqued violence brought by pro-Tibet protesters in China. The demonstrators said they were students from the University of Washington and not affiliated with any specific groups.

Ying Xiong, 30, said the group of volunteers were there to voice the other side of the issue because most people get the news from biased media.

Students for a Free Tibet - the group that hung banners off the Golden Gates bridge in San Francisco - also was present. They were selling buttons to raise money for their efforts to protest the Olympics.

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