ULAANBAATAR: The Dalai Lama preached to thousands of followers while on his visit to Mongolia. He addressed followers at the Gandantegchenlin monastery and spoke about materialism, starting a four-day visit which the host country has vouched will be purely religious in nature and won't include meetings with officials.
The trip comes with its cons, as China hasn't taken it too lightly. The communist country counts the Dalai Lama as a separatist seeking to split Tibet from China and staunchly opposes all countries hosting the monk. Chinese Foreign Ministry strongly urged Mongolia to deny the Dalai Lama a visit for the sake of a "sound and steady" development of bilateral ties. His visit comes at a time when Mongolian leaders are seeking a US $4.2 billion loan from Beijing to help the deep recession.
Mongolian Buddhism is closely tied to Tibet's strain and many in the heavily Buddhist country revere the Dalai Lama, who made his first visit in 1979. Mongolian religious figures say the visit could be the last for the 81-year-old spiritual leader, and some of his followers travelled hundreds of miles to see him while braving the coldest November temperatures in a decade. The Dalai Lama chanted special sutras at a large sports facility built by Chinese companies through Chinese aid.
