< Back to front page Text size – +

Dalai Lama to visit Boston next month

E-mail|Link|Comments (5) Posted by Michael Paulson March 20, 2009 03:58 PM

The Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, arrives in Boston next month at a time when there is renewed focus on the future of the Tibetan cause 50 years after the Dalai Lama and his followers fled into exile in India.

The local Tibetan community, which numbers about 500, is eagerly preparing for the visit, which will take place from April 29 to May 2. During the visit, the Dalai Lama plans to hold a press conference, to give talks at Harvard and MIT, to meet with scientists at the Boston Park Plaza, and to hold two public talks at Gillette Stadium. His remarks over the four days are expected to touch on the four main themes he often discusses in the U.S. -- religion, science, politics and education.

The Dalai Lama previously visited Boston in 1991, 1995, 1998 and 2003, and he visited Northampton in 2007.

I talked today with Lobsang Sangay, a senior fellow at the East Asian Legal Studies Program at Harvard Law School and the coordinator for the Dalai Lama's upcoming visit.

Q: Why is the Dalai Lama coming to Boston?
A: He is coming here to share his wisdom and thoughts with the people of New England on his sense of Buddhism and also on the path to peace.
Q: He's been here several times before. Does he have some connection to this area?
A: I think he does. New England is a land of immigrants, has a liberal mindset, and a history of refugees, and I think he feels some special connection with the people of New England. And there are the schools -- he always tries to reach out to the future leaders of nations.

Q: How is his health?
A: He's doing pretty well. The situation in Tibet is grim and tragic, and as a person I'm sure he's saddened by the present reality in Tibet. But he has spent time as a practitioner, and he exudes compassion and understanding and tolerance of others.

Q: What's the significance for local Tibetans?
A: Tibetans are very excited to see their spiritual and temporal leader, and also whenever he comes it's a deep inspiration for Tibetans, who will come and greet him and hear his message and follow what he tells us to do.

Sangay had an op-ed piece previewing the visit in today's Globe, and Globe reporter Jim Smith had a piece last week about a new Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at MIT that the Dalai Lama will dedicate during his visit.

(Photo, by Dina Rudick of the Globe staff, shows the Dalai Lama at Smith College in Northampton on 5/9/2007.)

« Back to front page

5 comments so far...

Welcome, Your Holiness!

PS I saw a figure, which i presume is true, that more people go to their house of worship on one weekend than go to all professional sports teams the whole year-combined. I'm a big sports fan, but is there a separate religion section in the newspapers (such as they are) the size of the Sports section?

Posted by gaudete March 20, 09 05:47 PM

Gaudete, there are newspapers that deal with specific religions for those who want to read them - you have the Pilot, if memory serves. The reason, presumably, that a separate sports section exists in community-based newspapers, large and small, is simply a far more widespread interest in the subject matter. A separate religion section at a time in which religion has made itself a polarizing force would no doubt cripple a major newspaper's ability to sustain itself. Whether or not the figures you read (I'm curious as to the source) are accurate, I'd guess that most people are more passionate about their sports teams than they are about their organized religions. They may attend their houses of worship once a week, but they follow their sports teams daily. The simple truth is that sports teams are far less likely to polarize neighbors than religion is. And until practitioners of religion stop their insistence that they, and only they, are right, that will continue to be the case.

As for the Dalai Lama and his visit here, it is indeed marvelous to welcome such a great and good human being, one who epitomizes all that spirituality is and should be.

Posted by OnTheLeft March 21, 09 01:38 AM

Why doesn't the link here from boston.com work? I had to search to find this.

Posted by hippydippy March 21, 09 01:20 PM

Buddhism really helps to train our mind to be a good/warm hearted human being and helps to control your mind specially in this stressful and tough economy time.

Posted by kunsang March 21, 09 09:38 PM

hes not coming till may get your facts straight its so annoying when the press doesn't take the time to gather the proper information try adding some links to where people can get tickets to participate in this event or even a link to his page. You shouldn't get paid when you don't do your job. Or at least dedicate the time to do a piece well on a deserving subject.

Posted by dah March 23, 09 09:17 PM

You must be logged in to submit a comment.

This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.

Blogger

Michael Paulson covers religion for The Boston Globe. He shared in the Pulitzer Prize in 2003, won the Mike Berger, Templeton and Supple awards in 2008, and is a four-time winner of the Wilbur Award.
E-mail mpaulson@globe.com.

Articles of Faith on Twitter

Follow GlobePaulson on Twitter

views

Harvey Cox, the Hollis professor of divinity at Harvard University, marks his retirement by asserting a little-used right of his professorship -- to graze a cow in Harvard Yard. Photo, by Barry Chin of the Globe staff, taken on Sept. 10, 2009 in Cambridge, Mass.