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In September 1982, H.H. Dalai Lama visited a retreat center that Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinopche had just set up in Bubión, a small town near the Alpujarra mountains near Granada, Spain. At the end of His Holiness’s teaching he named the center O Sel Ling. Photo by Pablo Giralt de Arquer, courtesy of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.
In September 1982, His Holiness the Dalai Lama arrived in Rome, Italy, to begin a month-long tour of Europe at the invitation of FPMT and other groups. His Holiness the Dalai Lama met with His Holiness Pope John Paul II, then traveled to Barcelona, Granada, and Bubión in Spain; Toulouse, Lavaur, Paris, and Strasbourg in France; Milan, Pisa, and Pomaia in Italy; and finally six cities in Germany. Four FPMT centers hosted His Holiness the Dalai Lama during the tour. They were Centro Nagarjuna in both Barcelona and Bubión, near Granada; Institut Vajra Yogini and Nalanda Monastery in France; and Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa in Italy.
The American nun Thubten Yeshe, who photographed the tour, shared her impressions of it with the first issue of Wisdom (the FPMT magazine that preceded Mandala). Here’s part of the story from the Wisdom article “A Man of Peace on Tour”:
This was a journey to the West that would inspire people on a spiritual level, and forge cultural ties with the people of Europe. This was the 1982 European tour of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and the message was clear, from one stop to the next: we are all human beings, seeking happiness and an end to pain; we have the capacity, and the responsibility, to realize these goals for ourselves and others.
That inspiration was manifest throughout the trip in people’s responses to His Holiness. The old and dying clinging to him at a hospice near Pisa. Smiling pictures and double page spreads in Spain’s major dailies. Thousands cramming into the already overcrowded city halls. A peace award from a group of Italian school children. The radiant smiles of reclusive Catholic monks after hours of shared insights with this Buddhist monk. “This has been the most important and moving day of my life,” said the mayor of a major European city to His Holiness after a private interview.
Cover of Wisdom Vol. 1, May 1983
Sightseeing tours and walkabouts did not seem to be the way the Dalai Lama thought best to spend his time, and they were frequently rushed and cut short. However, in small intimate meetings with Christian monks, educators, philosophers, and scientists he was most at ease, animated, and deeply interested. These were moments of listening and often a profound sharing of wisdom. At the monastery of Sant’Anselmo in Rome, meeting with a group of monks—Eastern and Western Europeans, Americans, Asians—discussing monastic life and the ways the Church in Eastern Europe had found to co-exist with Communist governments. An interview with the speakers from the Universal Education conference in Pomaia in which His Holiness did the interviewing—looking for Western educational wisdom that he could apply to the Tibetan situation.
It was almost restful to arrive at the four FPMT centers in southern Europe after the hurly-burly of the rest of the tour. His Holiness spent a day at Nagarjuna’s retreat center, which clings to the side of a mountain reminiscent of dry Himalayan peaks where the monasteries and retreats are indistinguishable from the rocky landscape. The Dalai Lama of Tibet seemed at home in this calm place … .
Read this article as a scanned PDF from Wisdom, May 1983:
“A Man of Peace on Tour from Wisdom”
You can read more about His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 1982 tour of Europe in chapter 20, “1982: The Celebration of the Enlightened Experience,” of the Lama Yeshe biography Big Love: The Life and Teachings of Lama Yeshe.
To keep up with all the activities of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, visit DalaiLama.com.
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