Dr Kumanga Andrahennadi of the Centre for the Advanced Learning of Mindfulness (CALM) explained that for this special occasion they had organized 1000 police officers, staff, and special guests to listen to what His Holiness had to say about compassion.

The Inner World team are honored to be sharing a special 85th Birthday Celebration for His Holiness The Dalai Lama. This program will include longtime student and friend of His Holiness', Richard Gere as well as other special guests, birthday messages, and musical performances, including one by Anoushka Shankar, who will debut a performance of Ama La, the track from the album that she features on.

Each of us is a student and everyone else in the world is our teacher, and those who cause us the most difficulty can be our best teachers, toward whom we would be wise to feel gratitude.

A group of friends gathered in Taiwan this morning to celebrate His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 85th birthday tomorrow. He conceded to their request that he give a short teaching to mark the occasion.