Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso

The Dalai Lama Visited Prague

The Dalai Lama, the spiritual and political leader of Tibetans, aged 73 now, arrived to Prague on November 29, 2008 in the framework of his European tour. He was invited to visit the Czech Republic by former Czech president Václav Havel and his The Forum 2000 Foundation, founded by him as a collective initiative in league with Yohei Sasakawa, a Japanese philanthropist, and Elie Wiesel, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

Next day, on Sunday, the 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso, a charismatic leader and excellent public speaker awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, hold a lecture the key issue of which was mutual understanding as a way to reach happiness and harmony. Tenzin Gyatso is the first Dalai Lama who visited Western countries to teach the basics of Buddhism and show people importance of peace and unity. In the course of the lecture the Tibetan religious leader answered audience questions.

The reaction of People’s Republic of China authorities was negative and quite nervous – China revoked the summit with the European Union scheduled to take place in Lyon, France, today. Such response of the official Beijing is rather predictable, because the Dalai Lama is the head of Tibetan exile government based in Dharamshala, India. And the problem of Tibet whose independence China is not likely to acknowledge in the near future is still rather sensitive matter.

Photo: by Marco Bonavoglia (wikimedia.org)

Date: 01/12/2008