Dharamshala — His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama's 89th birthday celebrates around the world today including USA, France, Australia, Taiwan and India. Central Tibetan Administration organised an event to celebrate His Holiness the Dalai Lama's 89th birthday, in Dharamshala on July 6, 2024. The chief guest, Sikkim Chief Minister Shri Prem Singh Tamang said," "His Holiness's teachings on compassionate motivation are the most idolatrous and revealing formulations of the current world order and its problems.”
His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama's 89th birthday celebrates around the world including USA, Canada, Brazil, Switzerland, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Japan, Taiwan, Mongolia, Australia, New Zealand, India and Tibet.
Central Tibetan Administration organised an event to celebrate His Holiness the Dalai Lama's 89th birthday , in Dharamshala on July 6, 2024, in the presence of the chief guest, Sikkim Chief Minister Shri Prem Singh Tamang, the Speaker of Sikkim Legislative Assembly, Mingma Norbu Sherpa, Shri Tapir Gao, a member of Lok Sabha Representing the Arunachal East constituency and accompanied by several other dignitary officials and ministers of Sikkim as well as other distinguished guests such as Bhutila Karpoche, Honourable Deputy Speaker of the Ontario Legislative Assembly, Canada and Namgyal Gangshontsang, Mayor of Oetwil am See, a municipality in the district of Meilen in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. Hundreds of Tibetans, Monks, Nuns and students around the Dharamshala also attended the celebration.
Birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, july 6 also celebrates as "Universal Day of Compassion", "World Tibet Day", "His Holiness the Dalai Lama Day", around the world by Tibetans and Tibet supporters as well as followers of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.
On the occasion of the celebration of the 89th birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Sikyong Penpal Tsering of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) read out the Kashag (Cabinet) statement: "On this momentous occasion, as we rejoice in myriad ways around the world to celebrate His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s birthday, every single one of us has to remind ourselves that it is time to be proactively compassionate, in solemn gratitude to His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s relentless effort in creating a compassionate global community.
"In accordance with the Tibetan calendar, this year marks the 90th birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. As per the modern calendar, His Holiness will turn 90 on 6 July 2025. Beginning July 2025, the Kashag will commence a diverse series of year-long events celebrating this milestone as the ‘Year of Compassion’. As a precursor to this significant event, the Kashag will briefly introduce the four principal lifelong commitments of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in four separate official events throughout this year, including today’s occasion, as a gentle reminder to followers and friends that the best way to please your Lama is to put into practice their words of advice.
"His Holiness’ first lifelong commitment is to promote the happiness of all humanity based on the concept of oneness of humanity. Here is how His Holiness has, over the years, proceeded to espouse, in slightly different approaches, the spirit of altruism, universal responsibility, advancement of human values and secular ethics. During His Holiness’ first visit to European countries in 1973, His Holiness emphasized the practice of altruism — a state of mind that abandons petty self-gain and realizes a sense of commitment to others’ well-being when met with an opportunity to help others. This concept eventually evolved into what is now known as Universal Responsibility.
"In the 1990s, His Holiness began to give brief discourses on the concept of secular ethics. On May 10 1999, in his address on ‘Ethics for the New Millennium’ at the Royal Albert Hall in London, His Holiness spoke of promoting human values as a responsibility of being a human being himself. The address did not specify whether it should be based on secular and religious ethics. However, in Varanasi, in the year 2000, His Holiness publicly mooted the concept of secular ethics not dependent on any particular religion. " The concept of the oneness of humanity is based on the nature of interdependence that affects one another. His Holiness advises against discrimination based on country, national origin, race, language, colour, ideology, culture, class, religion or any other. He stresses and elaborates on the undeniable fact that individuals and societies as a whole are interdependent, among all others, in commerce and finance, politics and military, transportation and the environment," Sikyong said.
Speaker Khenpo Sonam Tenphel read out Tibetan Parliament-in-exile’s statement on His Holiness the Dalai Lama's 89th birthday, he said, "Holiness the Dalai Lama alone had the authoritativeness and competence to steer the religious and political course of Tibet. The entirety of the divine and human beings of the Snowland of Tibet was spontaneous in praying with resolute determination with His Holiness that he assumes that role now. He was only 16 years old at that time. Even so, His Holiness took a firm pledge to carry forward the works of his predecessors. It was thus that on the 11th day of the 10th month in the Tibetan Iron-Tiger Year, which corresponded to the 17th of November in 1950, His Holiness the Dalai Lama assumed responsibility as the spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet. In order to protect the Tibetan people from an impending bloodshed, His Holiness maintained constant contact with the communist Chinese government, fighting fire with fire, for nine years while making efforts directed at reaching a settlement on the Sino-Tibetan conflict. But the aim of the government of China was nefarious. It employed all manners of unending streams of deceit on the Tibetan side, which included a succession of plans that endangered the personal safety of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. It was because of this intolerable situation that on the 10th of March in 1959, the Tibetan people were compelled to launch a spontaneous uprising campaign, directing their anger at the egregious communist Chinese plots that threatened the personal safety of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. After that, the situation in Tibet became extremely critical, with the result that His Holiness was left with no option but to leave his Norbu Lingkha Palace in the night of 17th March 1959 to escape into exile and seek asylum in the sacred land of India."
"After arriving in India, His Holiness re-established the Tibetan government in exile while devoting him to ensuring that the people of the three provinces of Tibet and the followers of the different religious traditions of Tibet remained a united entity. And he steered the Tibetan people on the path towards a democratic form of governance. His contributions towards ensuring the sustenance of the ethnic identity of the Tibetan people and the preservation and advancement of the religion, culture, language and so forth of the Tibetan people, as well as in the campaign for the just cause of Tibet remain incredibly enormous. It is solely thanks to the power of his kindness in making those efforts that today the Tibetan religion and culture enjoys great respect both in India and internationally. And it is also entirely owing to the power of his kindness in making those efforts that there is today continued support and respect both in India and internationally for the important issues that underline the Tibetan people’s struggle for their just cause. These explain why the organization of the Tibetan community in exile emerged as a distinctive one, standing apart from other refugee communities of peoples across the world," the speaker explained.
The chief guest, the special guest and other guests then gave speeches to those gathered to celebrate the 89th birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Dharamshala. The event continued with traditional Tibetan dances performed by students from Tibetan schools in the Dharamshala area, young Tibetans and performers of The Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA).
