GULFPORT The Venerable Lama Losang Samten, a former personal attendant to the Dalai Lama, is coming to Pinellas County to share the Tibetan spiritual leader's teachings of tolerance and love.

"Tibetan Buddhism is not necessarily a religion," he says. "Tibetan Buddhism is more a way of life."

Samten who was born in Tibet, but grew up in Dharamsala, the Indian town that is the headquarters of Tibet's exile government, will offer healing and purification ceremonies and Tibetan Buddhist meditation practices in Gulfport and St. Petersburg this week.

Lyn Dean, who studied with the former monk in California, invited him to Florida.

"He is very open-hearted and welcoming. A big part of his practice is welcoming everyone from every tradition and looking at the similarity of our traditions," she said.

Samten, whose monastery studies included Islam and Hinduism, said one of the reasons he came to the United States more than a quarter-century ago was to learn about Christianity and Judaism.

Knowledge fosters understanding, he said.

"In the 21st century, we have to live side by side. There is no way we can make another boundary, another wall, another fence," said Samten, author of the book Ancient Teachings in Modern Times: Buddhism in the 21st Century.

Born in Chung Ribuce, in central Tibet, he and his family fled their homeland in 1959 after a failed uprising against China's rule. Samten said he became a monk at 11 and joined the Dalai Lama's monastery in Dharamsala for intensive studies at 16. Chosen as one of four personal attendants to the spiritual leader, he went on to serve him for five years.

"That was wonderful for me," said Samten, now 61.

Read the original here:
Former aide to Dalai Lama to appear this weekend