Dalai Lama to take questions during visit to MU

OXFORD — The Dalai Lama will take questions from the audience during his public address at Miami University Oct. 21.

Representatives of the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, have requested about 30 minutes be set aside for questions from the audience at his 2 p.m. public address at Millett Hall.

“They want to have real people, ask real questions, whatever they like,” said David Keitges, director of international education at Miami.

The sold-out address by Tibet’s spiritual leader was open to Miami students, faculty and staff only. The Miami community bought out the 10,000 seats at Millet in the first three days of sales, before tickets would have been available to the public.

“People recognize this is one of those opportunities that comes along only once, if at all,” Keitges said. “We’re all very pleased. We wish Millett Hall had 20,000 seats.”

In his first visit to southwestern Ohio, the Dalai Lama will stop at Miami to recognize the university’s program that takes students to Dharamsala, India to live among Tibetan refugees. He will be at Miami for one day, Oct. 21, cutting down on original plans that he would visit Oct. 20-22. His day will end directly after his public address, giving him time to mediate.

The Dalai Lama’s visit will include a private, invitation-only event earlier in the day Oct. 21, at which Miami will confer on him an honorary Doctor of Laws degree, according to Claire Wagner, Miami spokeswoman.

He will also take questions at that event, which will include about 500 guests.

Miami is planning educational events before and after the Dalai Lama’s visit, with talks, movies and programs open to the public.

“We felt it was really important for our students and faculty and staff to really be able to put the Dalai Lama in context,” said Mary Jane Berman, director of the Center for American and World Cultures at Miami.

The programs will provide information on his story, his relationship with China, the history of Tibet and more.

“We want them to really go in there knowing something about what he represents, why he is speaking to the world,” Berman said. “Not only just about him, but the people he represents and the traditional and culture.”

The next educational event will be a talk at 5 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 23 called “Tibet and China: Historical Roots of an International Impasse” by Elliot Sperling, of Indiana University-Bloomington.

For more information, go online to muohio.edu/dalai-lama.

Contact this reporter at (513) 523-4139 or mengle@coxohio.com.