Dalai Lama to interact with Oxford, Cambridge scholars

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama will visit Britain next week for nine days to deliver talks, interact with Oxford and Cambridge scholars and students and meet parliamentarians, his private office said here on Tuesday.

The Dalai Lama and Lord Rowan Williams will lead a private two-day symposium at Cambridge University on September 16 and 17, bringing together scientists, writers, business people, philosophers and young people.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner will also speak on "Compassion: The foundation of well-being" in London on September 19.

The next day, the elderly monk, who was awarded the Mahatma Gandhi International Award for Reconciliation and Peace in 2011, will speak on "Ahimsa -India's contribution to the world" in London.

"His Holiness the Dalai Lama will also meet with parliamentarians at a meeting convened by the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tibet. The parliamentary group is chaired by Fabian Hamilton, MP, who has led two major debates on Tibet in Parliament," the statement by the Dalai Lama's office said.

"This is the second major visit by His Holiness to the UK in the Dalai Lama's 80th birthday year. His interaction with leading thinkers at Oxford and Cambridge highlights his ground-breaking collaboration with scientists and scholars, while his dialogues with young people will inspire a new generation," said Chonpel Tsering, representative of the Dalai Lama in northern Europe.

The Dalai Lama fled Tibet after a failed uprising against the Chinese rule in 1959. India is presently home to around 100,000 Tibetans living here in exile.