The elected prime minister of Tibet’s government-in-exile, Lobsang Sangay, says a grand religious gathering starting yesterday in Washington would allow expatriate Tibetans a right denied their brethren inside China: to meet their spiritual leader.
The Dalai Lama arrived in Washington on Tuesday for an 11-day Buddhist ritual, known as a kalachakra, in which practitioners meditate and pray for world peace.
Tibetan and local well-wishers cheered on the Dalai Lama as he arrived at his Washington hotel, the latest international stop for the Nobel Prize-winning monk who shows no sign of slowing down his travel at his age.
Photo: Reuters
Maria Otero, the undersecretary of state for democracy and global affairs who acts as the special coordinator for Tibet issues, met the Dalai Lama upon his arrival at the airport, a US State Department official said.
His visit began with celebrations yesterday to mark his 76th birthday. He will also meet with lawmakers during his stay, his longest in the US capital, although the White House has yet to announce if he will meet US President Barack Obama.
Such a meeting would anger China, which accuses the Dalai Lama of seeking independence for Tibet. The Dalai Lama says he would accept autonomy for Tibet within China.
A congressional aide, who asked not to be identified, said House Speaker John Boehner will meet the Dalai Lama at his office today and House Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi will attend.
Under the Constitution, Boehner is the third highest-ranking US official. Pelosi is a longtime critic of China on human rights grounds and has met frequently in the past with the Dalai Lama.
In May, the Dalai Lama relinquished his leadership of Tibet’s government-in-exile, giving up the political power that he and his predecessors have wielded over -Tibetans for hundreds of years. Although he remains the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, his decision to abdicate his political role is one of the biggest upheavals in the community since the Chinese crackdown led him to flee in 1959 into exile in India.
The exile government will be led by Sangay, 43, a Harvard University legal scholar who won an election in April. Sangay grew up in a refugee camp, the son of a Tibetan Buddhist monk who took up arms against China after his monastery was destroyed.
Sangay, who takes up his post next month, said that continuing Chinese repression inside Tibet is a tragedy and urged continuing US support for Tibetan autonomy.
In recent months, Chinese authorities have been accused of a crackdown at a prominent Tibetan monastery in Sichuan Province, where in March a 21-year-old monk set himself on fire to protest Chinese rule.
Sangay said that while the kalachakra was not staged in Washington for political reasons, he said the gathering was an expression of a desire shared by Tibetans inside China.
“We are here to be blessed by His Holiness. We are able to do so here, in the free world, but inside Tibet we are not able to do this,” he said. “Tibetans inside Tibet have this same basic right. We are entitled to have our freedom and we shall have our freedom.”
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