Dalai Lama celebrates 87th Birthday, World leaders CM participates virtually in ceremony

Dharamshala: Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh Jai Ram Thakur virtually participated in the ceremony organized to mark the 87th birth anniversary of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, here at on Wednesday.
The Chief Minister had a pre-scheduled program to personally attend the birthday celebrations of the Dalai Lama held at Dharamshala, but due to unfavorable weather conditions, he virtually attended the event.
While telephonically conveying birthday greetings to His Holiness, Thakur wished him good health and long life.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said that the energy and dedication with which the Dalai Lama is working towards humanity and spirituality is inspiring for future generations. He said the whole life of the Dalai Lama is dedicated to humanity, peace and non-violence. He has preserved the historical and cultural heritage of the people of Tibet, added Thakur.
He said the non-violent efforts of Dalai Lama ji to solve the issues of Tibet, was an example for the world. He said that today, Dharamshala is known as the holy city of Buddhism and the home of Dalai Lama. This city remains the center of attraction for the whole world.
Thakur said that during the Novel Coronavirus pandemic, there were many misconceptions in the minds of people regarding vaccination. At that time, the Dalai Lama got himself vaccinated, to remove these misconceptions and inspired people to do the same.
The Chief Minister urged the people to adopt the ideology of the Dalai Lama and work for the welfare of the entire humanity.
Tibetans, followers and friends of Tibet celebrated the auspicious occasion of the 87th birth anniversary of the great 14th Dalai Lama across the globe on July 6 with grand festivities and great hopes. The official commemoration of the omnipresent celebration was also observed by the CTA-led Tibetans in the hills of Dharamshala at the courtyard of Tsuglagkhang earlier today.
Thakur virtually attended the celebration as chief guest, along with the staunch supporter of Tibet and Hollywood actor Richard Gere, Chairman of International Campaign for Tibet, and the 104th Gaden Tripa Jetsun Lobsang Tenzin attended the event as special guest and guest of honour, respectively.
The other guests of the official celebration included Jonang Gyaltsab Rinpoche, Rakesh Pathania (Forest Minister of HP), Vishal Nehria (MLA from Dharamshala) and Gianni Vernetti (former Senator and Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affair, Italy), heads of three democratic pillars of the Central Tibetan Administration, Kalons, Tibetan Parliamentarians, heads of the CTA’s autonomous bodies and others.
Following the ritual ceremonies at Lhagyari, the chief guest virtually addressed the guests and Tibetan attendees amassed at the Tibetan main temple due to the unfavourable weather conditions.
The guests of the event jointly cut the ceremonial cake after the chief guest’s address.
Acknowledging the celebration of the birthday with the Dalai Lama and the inaugural of the new Dalai Lama Library & Archive prior to the official ceremony, Sikyong Penpa Tsering of the Central Tibetan Administration highlighted the inability to celebrate His Holiness’ birthday inside Tibet despite Tibetan in Tibet’s wishes due to unabated restrictions by the Chinese government.
Thereafter, Sikyong and the Speaker Khenpo Sonam Tenphel of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile read the statements of Kashag and TPiE, respectively, at the ceremony.
In his addressing, Forest Minister Rakesh Pathania of Himachal Pradesh, who attended the celebration on behalf of the Chief Minister, underscored contributions of the Dalai Lama in transforming Dharamshala into an international tourist destination through his presence and mentioned the inclusion of the latter’s life story in Himachal school’s syllabus.
In addition, he said, “We stand with you on this fight for independence, and we will always stand with you in this fight of independence.”
Furthermore, Vijay Jolli, senior BJP leader, bestowed a framed birthday message presented by senior RSS leader Indresh Kumar to the Sikyong Penpa Tsering during the celebration.

Special guest Richard Gere said on the occasion, “Tibetans, you should be proud since once, not in a lifetime, once in a millennium, maybe in two millennia, such a person, such a human being as the Dalai Lama emerges and he is a Tibetan.
“His Holiness is not going to be here forever, he is going to leave this body at some point. We can’t rely on the Dalai Lama to carry all of us. We have to carry each other, and it’s going to happen soon enough that this reality hits us. It’s up to the Tibetan people to carry the weight of your freedom, the weight of your truth, the weight of your possibilities, and the weight of your vision,” he added.
Gere said, “In that context of knowing, we all have to step up, while recollecting his first visit to Dharamshala 40 years before as well as his experiences during the conferment of Noble Peace Prize to His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1989, where His Holiness talked about the mankind’s responsibilities towards the earth and its environment.”

The 87th birthday celebration of His Holiness at the Tibetan main temple also saw a wide variety of folk dance performances from various communities.

At the same time, several awards were presented to the recipients during the event, namely the Department of education’s non-formal research programme award, community health care award from the Health Department, service completion award and service excellence award of CTA.

Apart from these, many prominent leaders and high-profile personalities across the globe have also wished long and healthy life to the Dalai Lama on his birthday through different mediums and platforms.

UNI XC RJ