While the Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama was giving teachings to his followers recently in Riga, one of the followers during an interaction asked whether His Holiness had a favorite team he wished to win at the ongoing Fifa World Cup in Russia, the reply came in a very simple manner and you can read the complete reply below.
“Personally, I have little interest in sport, so I have no favourite team. When I was young I played a bit of badminton and ping-pong. In Beijing, in 1954/55, I played ping-pong with the Chinese Prime Minister, Zhou En-lai, but my motivation was poor—because he had a minor disability I thought it would be easy for me to win.” His Holiness the Dalai Lama replied at the Skonto Hall in Riga during the first day of his three days teaching there.
With regard to which team he wished would win the world cup, His Holiness told that he feels that competition that results in everyone involved reaching the top can be regarded as healthy and positive. However, if it entails putting obstacles in your rivals’ way, it’s not so good.
The Tibetan spiritual leader made a week long visit to the Baltic states of Lithuania and Latvia where he met with members of the media, gave two public talks and three days of teachings. On completing the visit to Europe, His Holiness the Dalai Lama left from his hotel in Riga in the early hours of the morning and arrived in New Delhi on Tuesday.