Tenzing Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, arrives in Puerto Rico for his first visit, and will hold workshops and talks today and tomorrow. Tonight at 5 p.m. he will speak at the Tapia Theatre on “Eight Verses for Training the Mind” and tomorrow will speak about “Universal Responsibility” at Belles Artes at 4 p.m.
From Puerto Rico, he will go to Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico. In November, he travels to South Africa.
The Dalai Lama is the head of state and spiritual leader of the Tibetan people. According to the official Web site of the Office of Tibet, he was born Lhamo Dhondrub on 6 July 1935, in a small village called Taktser in northeastern Tibet. Dhondrub was born to a peasant family, but was recognized at the age of two, in accordance with Tibetan tradition, as the reincarnation of his predecessor the 13th Dalai Lama, and thus an incarnation Avalokitesvara, the Buddha of Compassion.
The Dalai Lama won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, which helped to draw attention to the plight of Tibet — invaded 39 years earlier by China, which claimed sovereignty over Tibet as one of its ancient provinces. The Chinese decimated Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and killed thousands of monks and nuns.
The Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against the Chinese. He lives in exile in Dharamsala, India, and has attempted for decades to negotiate with the Chinese to restore Tibet’s independence. Call 787-792-5000 for more information on the Dalai Lama’s visit.
