By Ujjal Borah
Guwahati: The Dalai Lama, the Tibetan religious leader, will attend a series of programs during his 12-day visit to Assam and Arunachal Pradesh in northeastern India.
The Indian government has defied objections from China to allow the Dalai Lama to visit Arunachal Pradesh.
The Dalai Lama’s office has announced that he will set stay at Guwahati, commercial capital of Assam, April 1-3 giving public-talks, interacting with the public and launch of his autobiography, My Land and My People in Assamese language.
Dalai Lama’s autobiography in Assamese will be released at the IIT, Guwahati. It has already been published in several languages. The book is published by Lawyer’s Book Stall, which celebrates 75 years. On the occasion, the group plans to publish and reprint unique and groundbreaking books.
The Dalai will deliver a public talk and participate in an interactive session at a program jointly organized by Lawyer’s Book Stall and IIT Guwahati.
He will then go to Yiga Choezin in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh, on April 5 and stay there until April7. On April 10, he will teach at Thupsung Dhargyeling Monastery in Dirang, some 45 km southeast.
The following day, he will visit the Buddha Park in Bomdila and on April12 he will deliver a talk at Thupten Gatsal Ling in Itanagar, capital of Arunachal Pradesh.
The spiritual leader’s notable publications are: Beyond Religion-Ethics for a Whole World (2012), The Universe in a Single Atom (2005), Ethics for a New Millennium (1999), The Art of Happiness (1998), and Freedom in Exile (1991).
In 2016, he co-authored The Book of Joy with Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Lhamo Dhondup, born on July 6, 1935, to a farming family, was recognized as the 14th Dalai Lama at the age of two. In those days, the Dalai Lama was both temporal and spiritual head of Tibet.
In 1950, he assumed full political power after China’s invasion of Tibet in 1949-1950. Finally in 1959, after vain attempts to broker peace with the Chinese, the Dalai Lama was forced to escape into exile. Since then he has been living in Dharamsala, a town in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.