Rev. Danny Fisher

"The Dalai Lama at his enthronement in February 1940, painted by Indian artist Kanwal Krishna."

Speaking of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, the ICT Blog has a great post today about the auspiciousness of the meeting’s date:

Days after images of the White House meeting of the Dalai Lama and President Obama flashed across the world, a special anniversary was celebrated in London with a glimpse of where it all began for the exiled Tibetan leader known simply as ‘Kundun’, or ‘Presence’.

Seventy years prior to the White House meeting, on a cold February day in Lhasa, Tibet, five-year old Tenzin Gyatso was enthroned as the 14th incarnation of the Dalai Lama. The only foreigners to witness the enthronement – or indeed any enthronement of a Dalai Lama – were four British officials who were part of a government delegation to Lhasa.

Britain had a special relationship with Tibet before the Chinese took over in 1949-50 – with an influence that no other Western country enjoyed. Tibetan historian Professor Tsering Shakya says: “Tibet, for her part, wanted to cultivate good relations with Britain. It was the price for keeping the Chinese at bay: as British influence increased across the Himalayas, so Chinese prestige and influence faded.”

Last week, sons, daughters, great-nieces and other relatives of British who served in Tibet gathered together with Tibetans in a Parliament building opposite Big Ben to view rare footage of the Dalai Lama’s enthronement in February, 1940, 70 years ago to the day. They represent a lost era in Tibet’s history; during the 1930s and 1940s the British cultivated close political and social relations with members of the Tibetan elite and established a Mission in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa. A small group of Tibetans and British ate and drank together, watched films, played football, both sharing a sense of humor and love of gossip. Their activities were documented, photographed, and even painted by the Indian artist Kanwal Krishna, who accompanied the British party to witness the installation of the 14th Dalai Lama in Lhasa.

Read the rest here.