By Tenzin Monlam
DHARAMSHALA, June 16: His Holiness the Dalai Lama arrived in San Diego on Thursday. The Tibetan leader was received by the Mayor of San Diego Kevin Faulconer and his wife, along with university’s Chancellor Pradeep Khosla at the Lindbergh Field. for the commencement ceremony of University of California San Diego
The Dalai Lama will be the keynote speaker at the commencement ceremony of University of California San Diego on June 17.
“As a city that celebrates its diversity, spirit of collaboration and environmental leadership, we are proud to welcome one of the world’s great champions for peace and understanding to San Diego,” the Mayor said after the Dalai Lama arrived from Mayo Clinic in Rochester, where he stayed for two days for routine yearly health checkup.
Mayor Faulconer added that the Dalai Lama is an inspiration to people across the globe and that he and his administration are honored to have the 81-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader back to their city.
A day prior to the commencement ceremony, the Dalai Lama will address a public talk titled ‘Embracing the Beauty of Diversity in our World’, which is jointly organized by Friends of Dalai Lama and UCSD at the university’s RIMAC Field beginning at 9 a.m. (local time).
The Nobel Peace laureate’s visit to the UCSD on Saturday had been protested by the Chinese students studying at the university. The Chinese students had also approached the administration to disinvite the Dalai Lama. The Chinese students cited that the university’s decision was insensitive towards them.
According to the official website, the ticket to the public talk is sold out and an audience of 25,000 is expected to hear the Dalai Lama.
The two-week US tour also include programs in Orange County, California, a public talk on ‘Caring for the World through Kindness and Compassion’ at Minneapolis and a public talk for the Tibetan Community in Minnesota on 24 June and a day-long meeting with scholars at Boston, Massachusetts on June 25.
The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader will return to India on June 26 and he is expected to leave for Ladakh for a six-weeks’ sojourn.
