ARGENTINA: Tibetan spiritual leader, Dalai Lama, presides over inter-religious event in Buenos Aires

Record ID: 447827

  • Title: ARGENTINA: Tibetan spiritual leader, Dalai Lama, presides over inter-religious event in Buenos Aires
  • Date: 3rd May 2006
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) HIS HOLINESS THE DALAI LAMA, SAYING: "All different religions, all religious traditions, they carry the same message: a message of love, compassion, forgiveness, respecting others. So if people how are supposed to follow these different traditions sincerely practise these things, then there's no doubt to create conflict."
  • Embargoed: 18th May 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Argentina
  • Country: Argentina
  • Topics: International Relations,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA815FHBGE15QBXQE2MS73WZ2G2
  • Story Text: Thousands of Argentines flocked to listen to his Holiness the Dalai Lama speak in Buenos Aires on Tuesday (May 2, 2006). On a tour of South America, the 71-year-old exiled Tibetan leader took part in an Inter-Religious Prayer for Peace event alongside representatives from the Jewish, Muslim and Christian religions among others, entitled, 'Living Together in Harmony'. His Holiness last visited Argentina in 1991 and 1999 and with 10,000 practising Buddhists living in Argentina, his visit attracted huge attention.
    The diminutive Tibetan spiritual leader blessed the audience and listened through a translator to other religious leaders before taking to the stage himself. He told listeners that if people practice religions sincerely there should be no room for doubt, often the cause of religious conflict and violence.
    "All different religions, all religious traditions, they carry the same message: a message of love, compassion, forgiveness, respecting others. So if people how are supposed to follow these different traditions sincerely practise these things, then there's no doubt to create conflict," he told rapt listeners.
    His Holiness the Dalai Lama has spent four days in the Argentine capital with almost 20,000 people attending his four lectures on peace and spirituality. His visit is part of a five-country tour of South America, having arrived from Brazil's Sao Paulo where he unveiled a monument in honour of Mahatma Gandhi.
    After Buenos Aires, his Holiness will travel to Chile, Peru and Colombia to give a series of teachings and lectures.
    In 1950 the Dalai Lama took over full political responsibility for Tibet after 80,000 soldiers from the People's Liberation Army invaded. In 1959 during huge demonstrations protesters demanded China leave Tibet and restore its independence. Efforts failed and the Dalai Lama went into exile in India accompanied by thousands of his faithful followers. Today some 120,000 Tibetans live in Dharamsala, known as "Little Lhasa", where the Dalai Lama presides over his government in exile.
    He was born in 1935 in a small peasant village in the northeast of Tibet. At the age of two he assumed his role as leader of the Tibetan movement and spiritual guide as the reincarnation of the previous 13th Dalai Lama.
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