(TibetanReview.net, Apr21’23) – The Dalai Lama has accepted an invitation to visit India’s Tibet-border state of Sikkim later this year, according to Indian media reports Apr 20. The invitation was extended by the state’s Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang-Golay who called on the Tibetan spiritual leader in New Delhi.
The Dalai Lama, who was in the city to attend the second day of the Apr 20-21 Global Buddhist Summit, has agreed to visit the state in October. The summit is being co-hosted by India’s ministry of culture and New Delhi-based International Buddhist Confederation.
“He (Dalai Lama) gladly accepted our invitation,” indiatodayne.in Apr 21 quoted Golay as saying.
“On behalf of the people of Sikkim I would like to express my deepest gratitude to him and ever remain indebted for his kind concerns and benevolent gestures,” he has said.
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The Global Buddhist Summit is seen as an important initiative of the Indian government to resist China’s bid, as part of its larger aggressive approach for pursuing diplomatic objectives, to project itself as home to Buddhism, noted the timesofindia.com Apr 21.
In his address at the inaugural session of the summit, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that attempts were being made to impose one’s thoughts, and one’s faith on others, which is also becoming a big challenge for the world.
Modi has also said: “It is universally accepted that today’s time is the most challenging time of this century. On the one hand, two countries are at war for months, on the other hand, the world is also going through economic instability. Threats like terrorism and religious fanaticism are attacking the soul of humanity. A challenge like climate change is looming large over the existence of the entire humanity. Glaciers are melting, ecology is being destroyed, species are going extinct.”
He has said there was no problem in the modern world whose solution could not be found in the teachings of the Buddha.
“The war and unrest that the world is suffering today, centuries ago the Buddha had given a solution by saying that victory gives birth to enmity, and the defeated person also sleeps in sorrow. That’s why we can be happy by giving up the idea of defeat and victory,” he has said.
“The path of Buddha is the path of the future and the path of sustainability. Had the world followed Buddha’s teachings, it would not have faced the problem of climate change,” Modi has added
The Dalai Lama is to attend the summit on its second day tomorrow.