Professor Robert Thurman, senior scholar at Columbia University and one of the Dalai Lama's oldest supporters, speaks to Claude Arpi about his relations with the Tibetan spiritual leader, the present state of capitalist' China, the Buddhist wave in the West, his idea of a Second Renaissance and his work for preserving Indian shastras.
'The first time that China alleged the Dalai Lama was 'anti-national' and 'unpatriotic' was after he affirmed that Arunachal Pradesh and Tawang are part of India,' points out former RA&W official Jayadeva Ranade.
What appeared to be a generous act of friendship was, in truth, a manoeuvre within a much larger strategic game. The United States used the 1962 war not just to aid India but to test how far it could be pulled into the Western fold, points out Dr Kumar.
The Chinese Communist party has not closed its door of contacts and negotiation with the Dalai Lama, a senior Communist leader wrote recently. Former RA&W officer and China expert Jayadeva Ranade explains what the thinking on Tibet is likely in Beijing.
The United States on Monday urged all people concerned to protect the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, in view of allegations of a Chinese plot to assassinate him.
The Dalai Lama is a huge charmer, knowing how to say things that will please an audience in his gentle avuncular manner.
Claude Arpi gives a fascinating firsthand account of the Dalai Lama's arrival in Tawang in March 1959 and explains why he will once again receive a grand welcome, whether Beijing likes it or not.
The China's foreign ministry criticised the visit, saying it will impact the boundary talks between the two countries.
A senior discipline inspection official has "lambasted some party officials for allegedly donating money to the 14th Dalai Lama
Rahul Gandhi spent 45 minutes with the Dalai Lama.
The Dalai Lama is not only an institution, but also a 'private' human being. Tibetans will certainly ask him to continue to guide their destiny for the years to come, believes Claude Arpi.
Was the visit connected to China's recent actions vis-a-vis Pakistan?
Indians are "lazy" and must work hard like the Chinese, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said in New Delhi on Friday. "As a critic, I feel sometimes people in India are lazy. You should work hard. Look at the Chinese, they work very hard," he said. In a lighter vein, he also said, "Wherever the Chinese go, they make China towns. However, nowhere in the world there are any 'India towns'."
'His presence in Tawang is a silent reiteration that the McMahon Line was and is the border between Tibet and India,' says Claude Arpi.
The Dalai Lama is right to reach out to ordinary Chinese; in the long run, it could only pay rich dividends, but the results won't probably be seen in the immediate future, says Claude Arpi.
The Dalai Lama offered prayers for victims of the powerful earthquake that claimed more than 120 lives.
'There was considerable disappointment in the Dalai Lama's entourage when it turned out that the two officials had specially flown to Dharamshala to request the Dalai Lama not to visit Washington, DC before Obama's first visit to China scheduled for November.'
As the Dalai Lama turns 75 on July 6, he speaks about the importance of the Indian tradition of Nalanda, the differences between Buddhist science, philosophy and religion and why he believes that a 'sort' of cultural genocide is happening in Tibet.
'These efforts by Beijing can be weaponised one day with economic, security and political implications for India.'
The Dalai Lama was there to watch the match between Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings in Dharamsala on Sunday.
Having not set foot in his homeland for 48 years, the Nobel peace prize winner will be celebrating what is known as an obstacle birthday. Wish him.
Tawang, after all, only became a part of India on February 6, 1951, when a Naga officer, Major Robert Kathing, leading a platoon of Assam Rifles, was welcomed by cheering Monpas after he crossed the Sela Pass and ordered the people of Tawang to stop paying taxes to the Tibetans. Until then, Tibetan officials had controlled the Tawang tract, a huge chunk of territory protruding south towards Tezpur.
Tibetans are losing faith in the Dalai Lama's conciliatory 'middle way' because of China's refusal to strike a deal with him over the region's future, the exiled spiritual leader said in an interview with the Financial Times.
The Tibetan leader will be in Ahmedabad as part of a Tibetan festival to be organised in the city. The lecture will be open to all students and faculty members.
'When India opened its doors to the world, moving away from an agrarian to a market economy, everything, whether life or love, was commodified.'
The Tibetan government-in-exile and China are continuing to hold back-channel talks and the last round took place this month, just days before US President Joe Biden signed a legislation that seeks to press Beijing for a negotiated settlement to Tibet's demands for greater autonomy.
'From exile in India, he keeps the Tibetan cause blazing on the world radar.' 'He could take himself very seriously indeed -- hundreds of millions of people do, after all.' 'Instead,' discovers Mitali Saran, 'he is a joyous, laughing beacon of dissent, both political and spiritual.'
The Delhi high court on Tuesday dismissed a public interest litigation over the alleged molestation of a boy by the Dalai Lama, as claimed to have been shown in a video clip that went viral last year, saying the religious leader was "being playful" and has already apologised for the incident.
Former US House Speaker Nancy Peolsi, who is part of a US bipartisan delegation which met with the Dalai Lama on Wednesday, launched a broadside against Chinese President Xi Jinping, stating that while the legacy of the Tibetan spiritual leader will live forever, Xi will be gone in a few years.
Kangana later apologised saying she didn't mean to hurt anyone, and it was a harmless joke about Biden being friends with the Dalai Lama.
Actress Kangana Ranaut, who the Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded as its candidate for the Mandi Lok Sabha seat, met His Holiness, The Dalai Lama in Dharamsala on Monday, April 15, 2024.
The Lok Sabha passed the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025, with the ruling NDA defending it as beneficial for minorities while the opposition called it "anti-Muslim". All amendments moved by the opposition were rejected and the bill was passed with 288 votes in favor and 232 against. Union Minorities Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju asserted that India is the safest place in the world for minorities, refuting claims of their insecurity.
Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation president Susanna B Afan and foundation trustee Emily A Abrera met with the Dalai Lama, the Nobel Peace laureate, to personally present the 1959 Ramon Magsaysay Award after 64 years.
The Kiwi players and their families got a rare audsience with His Holiness The Dalai Lama in Dharamsala.
In the two-minute-five-second video, the Dalai Lama also asked the child "to look at those good human beings who create peace, and happiness and not follow those who kill other people".
Dalai Lama said making it clear that he is not seeking Tibet's independence from China.
The Dalai Lama had apologised to a boy, his family and friends for the 'hurt his words may have caused', after a video clip purportedly showing the Tibetan spiritual head asking him to 'suck' his tongue sparked a row.
The epicentre was located in Tsogo Township of Dingri County, which has a population of approximately 6,900 people within a 20-km radius. There are 27 villages within this area.
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