The exiled spiritual leader of Tibet has arrived on Canadian soil for the first time in 11 years and is looking forward to meeting Prime Minister Paul Martin.
“”If (Martin) asks me about the situation of Tibet, then certainly I will tell him,” the Dalai Lama told reporters Saturday in Vancouver.
Martin will meet with the Dalai Lama on April 23, becoming the first Canadian prime minister to do so.
This is happening despite the objections of China, who considers the Dalai Lama to be a separatist. Martin has said he considers himself to be meeting a spiritual rather than a political leader.
“I consider myself a religious monk rather than a politician,” the Dalai Lama said. He has lived in exile in northern India since 1959.
Tibet declared itself independent of China in 1913, but China never renounced its claim to sovereignty. Its troops invaded in 1951.
The Dalai Lama insists his goal is not to free Tibet, merely to preserve its culture.
“We really want to build the Chinese republic as a whole. Tibet is part.”
In Vancouver, his first stop, the Dalai Lama will deliver spiritual teachings and engage in a roundtable discussion with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Shirin Ebadi. All three are Nobel Peace Prize winners.
Twenty-five thousand people have bought tickets to see the Dalai Lama speak at Vancouver’s Pacific Coliseum.
Some wags have termed the buzz his visit has created as “Lamapalooza.”
Actor Goldy Hawn will host a musical tribute for him and B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell is to host a luncheon.
Tibetan scholars from Europe and North America will be attending an academic conference in Vancouver during this period. On Monday, he will open the first Tibetan Studies program at the University of British Columbia.
Tibetan organizer Rigzin Dolkar says volunteers are taking care of several little details, including making sure the 68-year-old has a comfortable chair, and shopping for his favourite snack: honey and brown bread.
When in Ottawa, the Dalai Lama will attend a reception with MPs who have called for negotiations between himself and the Chinese government over greater autonomy for Tibet.
The vast bulk of the Dalai Lama’s time — from April 25 until his departure on May 5 — will be spent in Toronto.
While there, he will lead a ritual known as Kalachakra, one of the most important for Tibetan Buddhists.
Prayers, purification and visualization exercises will form the bulk of the ceremony.
Participants will also witness the building of a mandala symbol from sand. It repesents the palace that the Buddha Kalachakra lives in.
When the ritual ends, the mandala is destroyed, symbolizing the impermanence of this world.
With a report from CTV’s Sarah Galashan
