Dalai Lama donates Rs 20 lakh for Tawang hospital building

Sukhendu Bhattacharya
Tawang, Nov 9 (PTI) Tibetan Spiritual leader, the
Dalai Lama on Monday inaugurated a district hospital here and
donated Rs 20 lakh for its building on the second day of his
visit to India's north-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh.
The Dalai Lama inaugurated the Kahndo-Dowa Songma
Tawang district hospital and consecrated a Buddhist statue at
its entrance.
Later he visited the Yid-Ta-G-Choezin ground where he
planted saplings and also distributed some of them among the
thousands of devotees assembled there.
Addressing the devotees, the 74-year-old Tibetan monk
asked the younger generation to join monasteries to carry
forward Buddha's message of peace.
"Buddhist culture and tradition have to be preserved
at every cost," he said.
Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Dorjee Kandu
urged the people to preserve the Buddhist culture in this part
of the country.
The Dalai Lama, who arrived here on Sunday on a
four-day visit, had rebuffed China for objecting to his trip
to Arunachal Pradesh and expressed surprise over its claims to
Tawang, a revered seat of Buddhism.
The Tibetan spiritual leader is on a tour of this
remote north-eastern state after a gap of six years. It also
marks 50 years of his escape from Tibet after a failed
uprising against the Chinese rule there.
The Nobel Laureate has characterised his "emotional"
visit to Tawang, which has strong ties to Tibet, as
non-political. PTI SB
RAI