WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled religious leader — brushed aside by U.S. President Barack Obama in favor of communist China — was saluted at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday for his work for human rights.
The presentation ceremony underscored Obama’s dilemma in dealing with China, a growing power and the biggest holder of U.S. debt, and the Dalai Lama, a self-described “simple Buddhist monk” who Beijing accuses of seeking to separate Tibet from China.
For the first time in 18 years, the Dalai Lama is visiting Washington this week without stopping by to see the U.S. president.
John McCain
The decision not to meet the Tibetan leader was made amid efforts to improve U.S.-Chinese relations on issues from stemming global warming to reigning in North Korea’s nuclear weapons. Read more »
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to our 
RSS feed
or 
Twitter feed!
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will not meet the Dalai Lama during his five-day trip to the U.S. capital beginning on Monday, the first time in 18 years the exiled Tibetan leader has visited Washington without seeing the president.
Obama instead intends to wait until after his November summit with Chinese leader Hu Jintao before meeting the Dalai Lama, possibly sometime in December, officials said.
The decision to break precedent and delay any meeting was conveyed to the Dalai Lama last month when Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett and State Department Undersecretary Maria Otero traveled to Dharamsala, India, to explain the administration’s approach on Tibet.
“The administration, I think, is aware it is breaking a precedent … but clearly they have their reasons for that and he (the Dalai Lama) agreed with the decision that was made,” said Kate Saunders, a spokeswoman for the Tibetan Buddhist leader.
Saunders said the Dalai Lama and the Obama administration had agreed to a meeting after the U.S.-Chinese summit. The session is “likely to be before the end of the year, probably in December,” she said. Read more »
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to our RSS feed
or Twitter feed!
For the first time since 1991 the President will not meet with the Dalai Lama during his U.S. visit.
Obama’s Meeting With the Dalai Lama Is Delayed
Move Appears to Be A Nod to Chinese
By John Pomfret
Washington Post, Monday, October 5, 2009
In an attempt to gain favor with China, the United States pressured Tibetan representatives to postpone a meeting between the Dalai Lama and President Obama until after Obama’s summit with his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, scheduled for next month, according to diplomats, government officials and other sources familiar with the talks.
President Obama is snubbing the Dalia Lama. (c) Getty Images
For the first time since 1991, the Tibetan spiritual leader will visit Washington this week and not meet with the president. Since 1991, he has been here 10 times. Most times the meetings have been “drop-in” visits at the White House. The last time he was here, in 2007, however, George W. Bush became the first sitting president to meet with him publicly, at a ceremony at the Capitol in which he awarded the Dalai Lama the Congressional Gold Medal, Congress’s highest civilian award. Read more »
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to our RSS feed
or Twitter feed!
As Long As Space Endures: Essays on the Kalacakra Tantra in Honor of H.H. the Dalai Lama
As Long As Space Endures - Kalachakra Tantra book
The Kalachakra Tantra — Kalachakra means “wheel of time“ — is a tradition of Buddhist theory and practice whose root text treats a fantastic expanse of knowledge ranging from observations of the cosmos to investigations of meditative states and vital bodily energies. In the Tibetan-speaking world, a public Kalachakra initiation remains the most sought-after event in the life of a devout Buddhist. The Fourteenth Dalai Lama has long had a strong connection with the Kalachakra Tantra; he brought the initiation to the West in 1981, performing it in the U.S., Switzerland, Spain, and Australia. This volume has been created to celebrate his long involvement with the Kalachakra teachings.
The twenty-five contributors, scholars who have made tantric studies their specialty, have contributed translations of works by great Indian and Tibetan Kalachakra masters, analyses of historical figures, methods of practice, essays on medicine, ritual expertise, and ethical discipline. The collection also includes practical advice for Western students and practitioners from contemporary Tibetan Kalachakra masters.
Ed. by Edward A. Arnold on behalf of Namgyal Monastery Institute of Buddhist Studies, fore. by Robert A. F. Thurman. Snow Lion, 2009.
Kalachakra stela at Kalachakra stupa, Karma Guen, Spain (c) Space is Joy http://www.flickr.com/photos/7593961@N08/
Health and Astrology in the Kalachakra Tantra
Excerpt from the book
The cosmos is the aspect of time that is characterized by the passage of days, months, and years, which is determined by the movement of the sun through the twelve houses of the external zodiac. Read more »
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to our RSS feed
or Twitter feed!
By Frank Ching, The Korea Times
09-27-2009, Hong Kong
Barack Obama made history last year when he became the first African-American to be elected president of the United States.
Next month, he will make history again ― of a different sort. He will become the first president not to meet with the Dalai Lama when the Tibetan leader visits Washington.
Ever since April 1991, when then President George H.W. Bush met the Nobel laureate, he has been received by the American president, regardless of party. Both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush met the Buddhist monk each time he came to the American capital.
However, China has been sending signals to warn President Obama not to meet with the Dalai Lama in October, when he is scheduled to visit Washington.
Dalai Lama and George W. Bush
Read more »
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to our RSS feed
or Twitter feed!
News, Politics | Leo Golan | 
October 7, 2009 2:58 pm | 
Comments (1) 
