His Holiness the Dalai Lama arrives in Cambridge today (September 15) during his nine day UK tour, which began yesterday in Oxford.
Responding to an invitation from Lord Rowan Williams, the Tibetan spiritual leader will attend a private two-day symposium entitled Growing Wisdom, Changing People. It will be an open dialogue aimed at bringing together scientists, writers, businesspeople, philosophers and students.
His Holiness, Lord Williams and the whole group will reflectively discuss issues of contemporary concern in a mixture of plenary and small group sessions. It will be followed by a meeting in London for children and young people from five charities. They will be invited to speak with the Dalai Lama, Lord Williams and each other about their hopes and fears for the future.
Lord Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury, says: “This unique event is not another seminar on comparative religion, nor another panel on current affairs. Our hope is that it will be a genuine conversation around what resources we need to shape humane, compassionate, intelligent responses to the various crises that confront us today. Not so much material resources but our resources for wisdom and fruitful relationship.
“We have devised this event to give the fullest possible opportunity for younger people to join the conversation, and we hope that one outcome will be a continuing engagement between the more senior voices here and the insights and challenges of another generation. The main thing is to be ready to speak and listen, hopefully, patiently, thoughtfully, and to build relationships that have the potential to help us all grow in clarity and will to work towards a more just and generous world for ourselves and our children.”
The Dali Lama, who turned 80 this year, was given a warm reception at Glastonbury in June when he spoke about the issues of climate change and happiness. He will continue his tour of the UK by giving a public talk at the O2 Arena in London on 19 September and at the London Coliseum on the 20th.
