Dalai Lama’s Public Florence Meeting

The Dalai Lama will inaugurate the city’s 2017 edition of the Festival of Religions on September 19, the same day that his holiness will receive the “Seal of Peace” award from mayor Dario Nardella. Previous recipients of the honor include Pope John Paul II, Kofi Annan and Michail Gorbaciov.

In a morning public meeting at Mandela Forum, the Dalai Lama will share his thoughts in a discussion titled “The Liberty of Rules,” with co-speakers Florence iman Izzedin Elzir and Joseph Weiler, former president of the European University Institute in Fiesole and a member of the Hebrew faith.  The talk will focus on how to work within limits.  In the afternoon, in conjunction with the Lama Tzong Khapa Buddhist community in Pomaia, the Dalai Lama will focus on the topic “The Relationship Between Liberty and Limits.”

The events, open to the public, are scheduled on the 40th anniversary of the anniversary of the death of Florence mayor Giorgio La Pira, who worked unceasingly for peace and the creation of dialogue between religions.  One of his oft-repeated sayings was “I exist because there is another.”  For more details, visit Florence’s La Repubblica news site.