Dalai Lama to visit Japan
Dharamsala, June 12 – His Holiness the Dalai Lama will leave here for a week-long visit to Japan. The Tibetan leader is scheduled to visit several Buddhist temples and give religious sermons starting June 20.
The 1989 Nobel peace laureate has been invited by Zenkoji temple, a 7th century Buddhist temple in Nagano city, to deliver a special lecture “Guide to Positive Clear Ligh”t on June 20. Zenkoji temple caught the international media attention two years ago when it refused to host the Japan leg of Beijing Olympics torch relay to protest alleged “religious oppression” going on in Tibet.
His Holiness will deliver a teaching on “The Heart Sutra (sherab nyingpo”in Kanazawa on June 22. The Tibetan leader’s other engagements in Japan include Teachings on “Tsongkhapa’s In Praise of Dependent Origination (tendrel toepa)” and “Generating the Altruistic Mind Enlightenment” and a public talk on “The Essence of Happiness and a Healthy Co-Existence” in Yokohama.
The Tibetan leader last visited the country in November 2009.
From Dharamsala, his exile home in the northern India, the Dalai Lama travels extensively around the world promoting human values, teaching Buddhism and, advocating for Tibetan rights and their struggle for greater autonomy for the Himalayan country. He often meets with world leaders to present the case of Tibet.
Beijing however accuses the Dalai Lama of trying to split Tibet from China, which sent military troops to occupy the predominantly Buddhist Himalayan country in 1949, and has regularly protested against countries that agree to visits by him.
The Dalai Lama says he is only seeking a “real and meaningful” autonomy for Tibetan people within China and opposes the use of violence.
Albert Schweitzer Institute
Gorbachev Foundation
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