His Holiness speaking at Gandan Tegchenling Monastery
Photo: Igor Yanchoglov
His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama arrived in Mongolia on November 18 for a four-day tour. He was warmly received at Ulaanbaatar airport by Khambo Lama Choi Gyamtso, as well as leading lamas of Mongolia, a representative of the Indian Embassy and ordained monks.
China protested about the visit, saying that Mongolia should ban His Holiness from coming to Mongolia if it wants to maintain good bilateral relations between the two countries. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said, “We strongly urge Mongolia to act by keeping in mind the big picture of maintaining the stable development of bilateral relations and to keep their promises made on this issue”. He also said Mongolia should not allow the visit by the Dalai Lama and not to demonstrate any form of support to the “separatist and his cliques”.
Ties with China are crucial for Mongolia, which looks to Beijing for trade and investment. However, the Mongolian leadership, including the president, prime minister and the speaker of parliament supported the monastery’s invitation to the spiritual leader. They did not schedule a meeting between the spiritual leader of Tibet and the government of Mongolia.
The Dalai Lama visited Gadan Tegcheling Monastery where he gave an oral transmission of his Praise to the Seventeen Masters of Nalanda. He told the devotees present that he was happy to meet them again and asked the monks not only to pray and carry out rituals, but also to study Buddha’s teachings. He said that he would be teaching and meeting the younger generation during the tour.
His Holiness walking to Gandan Assembly Hall at Gandan Tegchenling Monastery in Ulannbaatar, Mongolia
Photo:Tenzin Taklha/OHHDL
The following day he gave a teaching on Tsongkhapa’s In Praise of Dependent Arising and Three Principal Aspects of the Path to a packed crowd at the Buyant Uhaa Sports Complex, where the 10,000 seat hall was filled beyond capacity with hundreds of people sitting in the aisles and several thousand others gathered outside, unable to enter the hall.
On November 21, His Holiness addressed the International Conference on Buddhism and Science in Ulaanbaataar, remarking that having attended such meetings in the West, in India and Japan, he was now happy and honoured to participate in such a conference in Mongolia. “I sometimes describe myself as half-Buddhist and half-scientist,” he said. “Buddhist scholars and practitioners have benefited from learning about physics while modern scientists have shown a keen interest in learning more about what Buddhism has to say about the workings of the mind and emotions.”
China labels His Holiness the Dalai Lama as a “wolf in robes”, “separatist” and “splittist”, saying that he promotes the separation of Tibet from China. China attempts to wield power by dictating to countries where His Holiness is due to visit, telling them to cancel the visit and threatening sanctions if they do not comply. When the Dalai Lama visited Mongolia In 2006 China cancelled flights between Bejing and Ulaanbaatar – these were later resumed.
Print
Email