London: Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama will conclude his two-week tour of European countries today with a day of lectures in the Danish capital, Copenhagen. During his visit the Dalai Lama has visited other European countries including; Ireland and Sweden. Yesterday His Holiness spent his final day in Sweden addressing a crowd of 250 students in the City Hall of Lund and attending a Christian church service at the city's Cathedral.
Over 1,000 people gathered in Lund Cathedral for the service, where the assistant vicar, Lena Sjostrand, welcomed him, "Peace and love, the essence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama´s message, is something that unites us, no matter what we believe in or where we live". The Sermon was held by the bishop Ms Antje Jackelén, who finished the sermon by saying "In this Holy Week, the passions flow together into compassion; compassion that gives birth to strength, love and happiness. The guest we are glad to have with us today, the Dalai Lama, has thought about compassion more than many of us". She then invited His Holiness to greet the congregation with a message on compassion.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama stood up, in front of the altar and said: "Respected spiritual sisters and brothers, I feel a great honour to participate in this special sermon, since it promotes religious harmony". He also told the congregation that the faith should not remain just in the church, where it would not have much effect, but be spread everywhere.
After concluding the day in Sweden His Holiness made the short trip across the road bridge to Denmark where he is set to host two events in Copenhagen. His Holiness will give teachings on Seven Point Mind Training (lojong donduna) in the morning at the Tivoli Congress Centre. In the afternoon His Holiness will give a public talk on What Life Is All About also at the Tivoli Congress Centre.
The Dalai Lama has experienced issues with the Danish government, during his 2009 visit, the Dalai Lama met for an "unofficial" meeting with Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, sparking temporary rage in China, which perceives the Dali Lama as a political troublemaker. China punished Denmark by cancelling a number of official visits, and eventually succeeded in pressuring the Danish parliament to promise to actively oppose Tibetan independence.
The organisers of this visit have made it clear that there will not be any political meetings during the Dalai Lama's stay in Denmark. Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen also said that he does "not have any special need to meet the Dalai Lama again."
