Tibetan lama meeting india how to#

Not about to pass on Shangri-La, the Forbidden Kingdom on the roof of the world. 'Ok, then where can we go on Thursday?' She suddenly brightened, giggled, tee-hee, tee-hee, 'You can go to Lhasa.' I asked, 'Lhasa, you mean in Tibet?' Apparently finding this uproariously funny, she rolled her eyes and snarked, 'You want three tickets to Teebet?' Yes, we most certainly do. 'Very well, then can we go to Xian on Thursday?' A vigorous shake of the head, 'méimén, méimém,' with not-so-subtle undertones of 'I don’t want to deal with foreigners, too much trouble, please go away.' She started to take crumpled yuan from a half-dozen hands poking past me. Early the next morning, we went to the local CAAC office (Civil Aviation Administration of China), which then operated all domestic flights.Īfter vigorously fending off a dozen locals trying to jump the queue at the only open ticket window, we asked a very stern – or nervous – young agent, 'Can we reserve for your flight to Kunming on Thursday.' Her answer, 'méimén,' which we surmised translates roughly as 'not possible.' We flew into Chengdu on an Antonov 26, an ancient Russian bucket of bolts.

Tibetan lama meeting india how to#

No way to book ahead, we had to make it up as we went along, and the first order of business on arriving anywhere was to sort out where we were going next and how to get there. Security forces admonished more than once, 'You are not permitted here,' but didn't detain us, happy enough to send us on our way to be some other official's problem. It started in Chengdu, Sichuan province, in April 1986, where I arrived with two friends via Hong Kong.Ĭhina then was just opening up to Western travelers, one village at a time, and backpackers like us, on our own, were unheard of, out in the countryside we might as well have been extraterrestrials. The road there was long, five years and thousands of miles. Thirty-one years ago, I sat knee to knee with the 14th Dalai Lama at his home just outside Dharamshala in Northern India. The IBC had also co-organised the international conference on Shared Buddhist heritage of SCO countries last month, which had been attended by Chinese delegates. When New Delhi declined China’s request to exclude the Dalai Lama from the conference, Beijing cancelled the 15 th round of border talks between the Special Representatives scheduled for December 2011. China had kept away from the 2011 conference due to Dalai Lama’s speaking role. The IBC, which is supported by the Indian government, traces its origin to the 2011 International Buddhist Congregation in New Delhi. Kishan Reddy said that the summit, highlighting India’s role as the birthplace of Buddhism, “aims to find solutions to problems such as climate change, poverty, and conflict, among others, by exploring the Buddhist teachings and practices”. The conference will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi under the theme of “ “Responses to Contemporary Challenges from Philosophy to Praxis”.Īddressing the interaction, Union culture minister G. The delegates include prominent scholars, monks, diplomats and members of Buddhist organisations across the globe. The largest delegation of 30 members is from Vietnam, followed by 20 from Sri Lanka. In total, around 320 delegations would participate in the summit, which includes 170 foreign participants from Mexico, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Japan. “An invitation has been sent (to the Dalai Lama) but because of his health I don’t know if he can attend,” Halder said. Halder also stated that the Dalai Lama, who is at the centre of a controversy over his public behaviour with a young boy, might not attend the event due to “health issues”. He added that the invitations were sent to various Buddhist institutions and not governments, as per The Hindu. Invitations were sent…From Taiwan, they (two delegates) are coming”, as quoted by The Telegraph.

The Global Buddhist Summit (GBS) is being organised by the Union Ministry of Culture and the New Delhi-based International Buddhist Confederation (IBC) on April 20-21.Īt a press conference on Monday, the director general of IBC, Abhijit Halder told reporters, “ Chinese are not coming.

New Delhi: Chinese monks, as well as the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama, will not participate at the International Buddhist Conference that will be attended by delegations from nearly 30 countries later this week.