Dalai Lama honour for Ross-shire youngsters
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ROSS-SHIRE pupils are being given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get up close and personal with a world-renowned spiritual leader on Saturday.
Tickets for a talk being given by the Dalai Lama at Eden Court on Saturday were snapped up within hours of going on sale earlier this year.
His talk — headed “Be the Change” — is targeted specifically at the young generation.
Pupils at Cromarty Primary School have been amongst scores across the Highlands involved in preparations for the arrival of the exiled Tibetan leader — who will get a real sense of home when he arrives.
Pupils have been painting, drawing and writing brightly coloured messages on flags called “wind horses” — words of peace and hope for mankind seen widely across Tibet.
Highland Council, in conjunction with local Tibetan Buddhist charity, Kagyu Samye Dzong Highlands, has sent out packs of coloured materials, representing the five elements, to schools with a lesson plan to help them learn more about links between Scotland and Tibet.
The wind horses from Ross and Cromarty will be flown all around the grounds of Eden Court on the day of the visit and will be seen on DVD by the audience inside the auditorium as they wait for His Holiness the Dalai Lama ito arrive.
Meanwhile, sixteen S4-S6 pupils from Dingwall Academy, accompanied by head teacher Karen Cormack and principal teacher of English, Nicholas Green, have been invited to be onstage with the Dalai Lama during his talk.
Speaking ahead of the event, Mr Green said: “We’re all of course very excited about this opportunity and very much looking forward to hearing what he has to say.
“They will be onstage with the Dalai Lama during his talk, and have prepared questions on a range of topics including leadership, coping with the 21st century world, and meditation. Our nominated ‘asker’ is Oyuntsatsral Little.
“The talk is directed at young people - he is advising them to ‘be the change they wish to see in the world’.
"We live in an increasingly fast-paced world, and one in which ethics, personal and universal responsibility are often sidelined. This is precisely the Dalai Lama’s subject.”