Taipei, Taiwan: Be kind hearted towards others and that would be the best birthday gift for me, His Holiness the Dalai Lama said yesterday speaking live online to over 3,500 people at the 2015 Blessing Concert for His Holiness the Dalai Lama here at the Taiwan International Convention Center.
Organized by the Gaden Shartse Center in Taipei, the four-hour long concert featuring a rich variety of religious and cultural programs marked the beginning of a series of events in celebration of the 80th birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
The Center also donated, in the name of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, one ambulance to the Fire Department of the Taipei City Government.
Earlier on Saturday, the Students for a Free Tibet-Taiwan held the First Tibet Literary Award ceremony at the Deng Liberty Foundation, the memorial museum of the Taiwanese self-immolator Nylon Deng.
Representative Dawa Tsering and Mr Li Minyong, a writer and board member of the Deng Liberty Foundation, presented awards to the six winners, including one mainland Chinese student currently studying in Taiwan.
The winners were selected out of hundreds of submissions, including both prose and poetry, reflecting on the wave of self-immolation protests that has swept across Tibet since 2009.
While the Taiwan Office of Tibet will officially mark the 80th birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama on 5 July, the Taiwan International Association of Tibetan Buddhist Dharma will host a prayer festival for the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama on 6 July.
Furthermore, beginning 4 July, a three-day photo exhibition on His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Tibetan culture will also be organized at the Taipei City Government Hall. The exhibition features photographs of three photographers, a Tibetan, Taiwanese and Japanese, along with a discussion with the photographers.
