The retired senator and the exiled spiritual leader shared a quest for a free Tibet for many years.
BY RICHARD SALIT
Journal Staff Writer
NEWPORT – The Dalai Lama, exiled spiritual leader of Tibet, will visit Salve Regina University this month to pay tribute to former Sen. Claiborne Pell, a longtime supporter and friend.
The Nov. 17 visit to the Catholic school will follow a 10-day visit to Washington, D.C., by the iconic Buddhist leader, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize who is known for his nonviolent beliefs.
The Dalai Lama’s arrival in Newport comes on the 55th anniversary of Nov. 17, 1950, the day he was enthroned as Tibet’s head of state and its most important political and spiritual leader. Nine years later, after a failed rebellion against the Chinese occupation, he was forced into exile in India. He escaped by fleeing Tibet through high Himalayan mountain passes.
“In keeping with the spirit of our mission and the Dalai Lama’s teachings of peace and hope, I am declaring Nov. 17 as a day of peace and reflection on our campus,” Sister M. Therese Antone, the university’s president, said in a statement. “I look forward to the opportunity for all members of the university community — students, faculty and staff — to come together in the spirit of hope, peace and compassion to welcome the Dalai Lama.”
Also known as Tenzin Gyatso, he is Tibet’s 14th Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lamas (which means “Oceans of Wisdom”) are believed to be reincarnations of the Buddha of Compassion, who wished to reincarnate to continue serving his people.
The first Dalai Lama was born in 1391. The current leader was recognized as the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama when he was 2. He became the full head of state when he turned 16.
Since China occupied Tibet, the Dalai Lama has strived to employ diplomacy and world pressure to win freedom for his homeland. He has appealed to the United Nations for support, visited the United States numerous times and published many books. But freedom for the 6 million people of Tibet has remained elusive.
Senator Pell first met the Dalai Lama soon after China opened Tibet to tourism in 1980. As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Pell led efforts to establish scholarships and humanitarian assistance for Tibetans and to make a free Tibet part of American foreign policy.
Even after his retirement, in 1997, Pell testified at a Senate hearing on Tibet.
“The Tibetan people have suffered at the hands of the Chinese Communists since their ‘peaceful liberation’ from a theocratic Tibet in 1950-1951. China’s occupation policies continue to be heavy-handed,” he said.
The Dalai Lama will visit Salve Regina’s Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy, which was established by Congress in 1996 upon his retirement.
Reporter Richard Salit can be reached at (401) 277-7467 or by e-mail at rsalit [at] projo.com.
