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"It's a festival of people, not necessarily a festival of
government or politicians, and this is how it should be," he
said, after a rain-sodden crowd sang "Happy Birthday to You" to
mark his 80th birthday next month.
Beijing routinely denounces any country that hosts the Dalai
Lama, calling him a dangerous separatist. Last week, a Foreign
Ministry spokesman addressed his plan to visit Glastonbury by
saying that "China resolutely opposes any country, organization,
body or individual giving any kind of platform to the 14th Dalai
Lama to engage in anti-China splittist activities".
The Dalai Lama, who said in Glastonbury that many Chinese
Buddhists wanted to learn from the Tibetan tradition, says he
only wants genuine autonomy for his Himalayan homeland.
He is going to Britain again in September, a few weeks before
Chinese President Xi Jinping visits.
Addressing a crowd in Glastonbury's Sacred Space, he said the
very purpose of existence was "a happy life", and spoke of the
importance of love, tolerance and forgiveness in resolving
conflicts such as those in Syria and Iraq.
The Glastonbury Festival, held on a dairy farm in southwest
England, attracts a diverse mix of artists, speakers and
performers, and retains many echoes of the hippy counter-culture
movement that inspired its beginnings in the 1970s.
(Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
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