Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com
Published - Saturday, July 19, 2008
Dalai Lama begins 6-day visit to Madison
MADISON — The Dalai Lama is making his seventh visit to Madison, a six-day trip that begins with a public talk Saturday afternoon.
The 73-year-old Buddhist leader typically delivers messages of peace, compassion and religious harmony. Tibetans refer to him by a term that means ``the wish-fulfilling gem.''
The Dalai Lama was born in Tibet, which has been run by China since the 1950s. He's been living in exile in India after a failed uprising in 1959.
His Madison visit concludes Thursday with a ceremony in which Tibetans will wish him a long life in a series of prayers and gift offerings. Organizers say the elaborate Buddhist ritual has never been performed in the West.
Some 12,000 people heard him speak when he visited Madison last year.
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