Dalai Lama Celebrating Birthday in OC

By BEA KARNES (Patch Staff)

The Dalai Lama, the spiritual of leader Tibetan Buddhism, will celebrate his 80th birthday today by participating in a variety of events at UC Irvine.

The Dalai Lama starts his day at 9:30 a.m., joining scientists and activists in a panel discussion at UC Irvine’s Bren Events Center on “The Effects of Climate Change and Taking Action to Resolve this Global Issue.”

A picnic at UCI’s Aldrich Park will follow the discussion at 11:30 a.m.

A “panel dialogue” with “Nobel laureates, world leaders, professional experts and artists,” will be held at the Bren Events Center at 1:30 p.m.

This is the second of the Dalai Lama’s three-day visit to Orange County, centering around the spiritual leader’s 80th birthday, which officially is today.

On Tuesday, the Dalai Lama will participate in a panel discussion starting at 9:30 a.m. on “The Significance of Education in Advancing Universal Human Values,” also at the Bren Events Center.

On Sunday, the Dalai Lama began his three-day 80th birthday celebration in Anaheim with a speech and discussion at Honda Center in Anaheim about the “transformative power of creativity and art.”

The Dalai Lama has asked his followers to participate in a social media campaign documenting acts of compassion. The campaign, which encourages use of the hashtag, “With Compassion,” will include photos, quotes, video and other documents of acts of compassion that will be compiled into a montage to be shown to the Tibetan Buddhist leader.

--City News Service; Image via Shutterstock