This is a guest post by Elizabeth Dias, a TIME contributor based in Washington.
When the Dalai Lama came to Washington this month, he wasn’t alone. Accompanying the spiritual leader of Tibetans-in-exile were a group of other leading rinpoches, or reincarnate lamas and teachers. These Tibetan clerics, or “precious jewels” as the …
President Barack Obama’s interactions with the Dalai Lama have always been an awkward dance. Meeting with a fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate, especially one as widely recognized and respected as Tenzin Gyatso, would seem to be the sort of thing Obama would welcome. In the U.S. political scene the Tibetan spiritual leader is the …
After delivering a lecture on “secular ethics” at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles just days after the U.S. raid on Abbottabad, the Dalai Lama was asked of his thoughts about the killing of Osama bin Laden. A headline in the Los Angeles Times claimed the great spiritual leader in exile thought bin Laden’s death “was …
Lobsang Sangay, a 43-year-old Indian-born legal scholar educated at Harvard, was elected prime minister of the Tibetan government in exile after claiming 55% of votes cast by the Tibetan exile diaspora. His victory comes on the heels of the Dalai Lama’s announced departure from political life — a move that marks a new phase in the …
America At War — Don’t count on a short or limited conflict in Libya cautions Tony Karon on Global Spin; Obama hopes Libya will rehabilitate the doctrine of humanitarian intervention, reports Massimo Calabresi on Swampland.
Tibetan Transition — Pico Iyer writes about Tibet’s ‘quiet revolution’ for the New York Review of Books. In …
What happens when the Dalai Lama steps down as political leader of the Tibetan government-in-exile? As far as India is concerned, he will always be welcome, according to statements today by the external affairs ministry.
“His holiness the Dalai Lama is an honoured guest in India. And he is a spiritual and religious leader,” an MEA
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Tibetan Transition — The Dalai Lama announced today that he will relinquish his political role. TIME’s Hannah Beech explains what’s next for the leader and his people.
Libya’s Long Haul — As Gaddafi settles in, rebel forces realize they need help from overseas, writes Andrew Lee Butters in a dispatch from Benghazi; in Tripoli, …
Just how quickly can a politician be reincarnated? Hundreds of thousands of Tibetans—both within the troubled mountainous territory and in exile all around the world—must be pondering this metaphysical conundrum as their beloved spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, asked the Tibetan exile community today to allow him to retire from …