Dalai Lama To Join Music Fans At Glasto

Dalai Lama To Join Music Fans At Glasto

Will the Tibetan spiritual leader don some wellies and enjoy a cider to blend in at the huge event at Worthy Farm?

The Dalai Lama is to make a guest appearance at Glastonbury Festival on Sunday to “promote his message of compassion“.

The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader will visit the Somerset event as part of a UK visit which will also take in Aldershot.

Festival organiser Emily Eavis said: “We’re honoured to welcome the Dalai Lama to Glastonbury 2015.

“He will be talking in the Green Fields and exploring the farm this Sunday as part of his trip to the UK. What a special moment for the festival.”

The key themes during the Dalai Lama’s visit “will be the promotion of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s message of compassion, non-violence and the oneness of humanity”, a spokesman said.

It is thought to be the first time he has attended the festival.

Worthy Farm now resembles a small city after opening its gates to campers on Wednesday. 

For five days the festival site will host a population larger than either Bath, Reading or Oxford, with staff and ticketholders adding up to 175,000 people.

This year music fans will watch headliners Florence + The Machine on Friday, Kanye West on Saturday and The Who on Sunday on the Pyramid stage

The Dalai Lama will also inaugurate the Buddhist Community Centre UK (BCCUK) in Aldershot, which has a large Nepalese Buddhist community, on Monday.

After prayers for victims of the recent Nepal earthquakes, he will give a public talk on Buddhism in the 21st century at the ESS Stadium in Aldershot.

Chonpel Tsering, representative of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, said: “This upcoming visit by His Holiness the Dalai Lama will be particularly notable as it takes place just a week before His Holiness turns 80 on 6 July 2015.

“The visit will offer all those attending the events, and beyond, an opportunity to hear the message of compassion, hope, dialogue and tolerance of this widely respected spiritual and moral authority.”