Dalai Lama cancels visit to IU

The Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet, has canceled his North American tour which included a visit to the IU Bloomington campus in April due to illness from exhaustion.\nThe Dalai Lama was to dedicate the opening of the Chamtse Ling Temple and the Youth Program at the Tibetan Cultural Center as well as give a talk at IU's Assembly Hall.\nThe Dalai Lama, 66, canceled his engagement to North America as well as his European tour in March due to exhaustion from his extensive tour and lecture schedule, according to a press release.\n"We are very sad to hear about his recent illness, but are also very happy to hear that he is in full recovery," Thubten J. Norbu of the Tibetan Culture Center, said. "The health of His Holiness is most important, not only to us but also to all the peoples of the world."\nNorbu is the brother of the Dalai Lama and founded the Tibetan Culture Center. He also owns the Snow Lion restaurant in Bloomington.\nHis North American tour was to include visits to New York, Boston, Ottawa, Ontario and Bloomington.\nWhile in Bloomington, the Dalai Lama's sister, Jetsun Pema, was to hold a program for children at the center entitled "How to Find Peaceful Solutions to Conflicts," according to the IDS article "Dalai Lama returning to Bloomington campus" from Jan. 30.\nAccording to a press release from Norbu and from the Office of Tibet in New York, all events will be postponed.\nThe Dalai Lama was first diagnosed Jan. 27 with intestinal infection, which doctors said they believe he may have obtained from a food or water-borne amoeba, the Office of Tibet said. Feb. 7 the Dalai Lama left Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai (Bombay), India for his home in Dharamsala, India.\n"Over the past two weeks, Tibetans and supporters of Tibet living in various parts of the world have performed prayers for His Holiness' early recovery and good health," said a representative from the Tibetan Center in New York. "The Kashag (Cabinet of the Tibetan Government in Exile), as well as friends and supporters of His Holiness and Tibet, have requested that His Holiness take a complete rest for the next three months."\nHis talk at IU's Assembly Hall entitled "Finding Inner Peace in Today's World" will also be postponed and tickets purchased through Ticket Master are fully refundable, their telephone service said.\nThe Tibetan Culture Center has given three options to those who have purchased tickets to their events, said representative Sandy Belth. Patrons may apply their payment to a future visit of His Holiness, donate the money to the building of the Chamtse Ling Temple, or apply for a refund, which the Tibetan Culture Center will honor.\nProfessor Elliot Sperling, the chair of the Central Eurasian Studies department at IU, is a Tibetan Specialist and relates that part of the prominence of the Tibetan Studies department has been due to the visits from the Dalai Lama.\n"The Dalai Lama's presence, the presence of the Tibetan Studies program is uniquely tied to IU's focus of diversity," Sperling said. "We regret that he's not going to come, but his reasons are completely understandable and he should take time to recuperate."\nThe last time the Dalai Lama visited Bloomington was in 1999, when he celebrated the 12-day Kalachakra initiation for world peace. This would have been his fourth visit, having first come in 1987, again in 1996 and finally in 1999.