Dalai Lama to meet his sightless hero in Ireland

Dharamshala, April 11: Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama is visiting Ireland to meet his friend and hero, an aide said here Monday.

‘His Holiness is leaving for a six-day visit to Ireland, Sweden and Denmark tonight (Monday) where he will also meet his old friend and his hero Richard Moore,’ Tenzin Takhla, a senior aide to the exiled leader, told IANS.

He said the Dalai Lama would attend a function in Dublin April 13 organised by Moore’s charity ‘Children in Crossfire’.

The Nobel laureate met Moore, who lost his eye sight in an accidental firing, for the first time during his visit to Derry in 2000.

Moore came here in 2010 along with British soldier Charles Inness, whose accidental gun fire had made him blind in 1972 in Ireland.

Moore delivered a lecture on compassion and forgiveness to exiled Tibetan students. The Dalai Lama had also attended the lecture.

Moore then told the students of Tibetan Children’s Village School: ‘I have learned to live in a different way. One can take away one’s sight, but one can’t take away one’s vision.’

Addressing the students, Inness then had said: ‘I was absolutely appalled, shocked and devastated by what happened to Moore. I was deeply grieved for the rest of my life after the tragic incident.’

Inness explained that he shot the bullet to keep away the stone pelters and it accidentally hit Moore.

In 2006, Moore flew to Edinburgh to meet Inness, who had gone into deep shock after learning about what happened. He forgave Inness for his act.

In his address, the Dalai Lama had said: ‘The sense of forgiveness and humanity shown by Richard Moore is an example for the world to learn to overcome such negative emotions.’ (IANS)