Dalai Lama To Attend Buddhist Meet In Mumbai

Mumbai: The Dalai Lama will be in Mumbai next month to attend the ‘Dhamma Diksha’, an international conference on Buddhism.

The conference will take place at the sports stadium in Worli on December 15 and the Mahalaxmi Race Course on December 16, Union minister Ramdas Athawale said on Saturday.

Ambedkar’s dream will be fulfilled with this conference: Athawale

After Dr BR Ambedkar converted to Buddhism in Nagpur on October 14, 1956, he had planned to organise a Dhamma Diksha conference in Mumbai, but he passed away on December 6 that year, Athawale said.

“With the conference being held here this year, Ambedkar’s dream will be fulfilled,” he said.

Besides the Dalai Lama, the prime ministers of Sri Lanka and Thailand, Dinesh Gunawardena and Srettha Thavisin, respectively, Bhutan Princess Kesang Wangmo Wangchuk and Buddhist leaders from Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and other countries will attend the event, he added.

Athawale, a prominent Dalit leader from Maharashtra, appealed that Buddhists and Ambedkar’s followers should attend the event in large numbers.

Followers of Dalai Lama excited

The news that the Dalai Lama is coming has excited his followers in the city, especially because the spiritual teacher has curtailed his public engagements lately because of ill health.

The Dalai Lama, now 89, had spent the monsoon in Ladakh before turning to Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh, his home and the headquarters of the Tibetan government-in-exile.

“He travels to Ladakh in the rainy season because Dharamshala is extremely humid at that time. After returning to Dharamshala he was scheduled to travel to Sikkim, but that trip was cancelled because he was unwell,” said Chaman Sharma, a member of the group, Friends of Tibet, in Mumbai. “He has cough and doctors have advised him against travelling because of his fragile health.”