His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Visit Raleigh in April 2018

Over the last few weeks, I have been privileged to take part in a cultural exchange between Raleigh and Dharamsala, India, home to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the cultural and spiritual center for the people of Tibet.

The Dalai Lama is a renowned Buddhist leader and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize; he travels the world advocating compassion and non-violence. We are excited to announce that the Dalai Lama will be visiting Raleigh.

UPDATE: His Holiness the Dalai Lama will now be visiting in April of 2018

Raleigh has signed onto the Charter for Compassionate Cities project and looks forward to many blessings to come from the collaboration. We seek to incorporate the central ethical principle of compassion into our policy and actions.

As a gift to His Holiness, 400+ flags were hand sewn by Vansana Nolintha along with Victor Lytivinenko & Sarah Yarborough from Raleigh Denim. We spent a beautiful day in Dix Park with over 100 visitors who came to write messages and prayers, it was a truly moving and beautiful afternoon. His Holiness humbly accepted this gift, and when I asked him if he would come to Raleigh, he replied “Of course I will come!”

We spoke about his interests in secular ethics, neurobiology, and more and I look forward to continuing their conversations when he visits Raleigh. While in India, I also visited with the Speaker Khenpo Sonam Tenphel of the Tibetan Parliament in exile and learned a great deal about these political refugees.

Planning for His Holiness’ visit has just begin; we will continue to share details with the public as more become available. We look especially forward to his public audience with our community.

Read the Charter for Compassion

Read what the Dalai Lama has to say about compassion