HIS HOLINESS THE DALAI LAMA 

Visits to Scotland Hosted by The Edinburgh Inter-Faith Association

2004

Edinburgh Inter-Faith Association has been blessed to have hosted and organised extensive visit programmes by His Holiness The Dalai Lama to Scotland on two occasions. Our first visit programme was in June 2004 and the programme included events in both Edinburgh and Dunfermline. EIFA were also instrumental in bringing together Glasgow and the Dharma Network UK to host the 5 day teaching programme.

The Edinburgh programme included a historic visit to the Scottish Parliament which included His Holiness giving ‘Time for Reflection’ and engaging in a dialogue session with MSPs and a questions and answers session with children from across Scotland. The Dalai Lama also gave a public talk at the city’s Usher Hall on the theme ‘A Vision of a New Civilisation’ and visited an exhibition on Tibet at the City Art Centre.

The Dunfermline visit included a peace pole planting and blessing, a major questions and answers session with children and young people from Fife and neighbouring areas, attendance at a large outdoor World Peace Ceremony. An inter-faith highlight saw His Holiness the Dalai Lama visit the ancient Dunfermline Abbey were he met with Religious Leaders from across Scotland for the most high profile inter-faith gathering to take place in Scotland.

2005

His Holiness’s second visit was in November 2005 when he participated in a conversation event at the Usher Hall on ‘Ethics for the New Millennium’. He also gave a keynote address to over 250 educators at a conference on ‘Positive Education’, took questions at an international press conference and addressed over 100 international parliamentarians on the subject of Tibet.