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Dalai Lama to receive interfaith prize
LAST UPDATE: Wednesday, 26 Mar 2008 - 1:22:34 AM
NEW YORK: The Dalai Lama, currently caught in crossfire between China and protesters in Tibet, has been selected as the first recipient of the international Guru Nanak Interaith Prize of Hofstra University.
The $50,000 prize, which recognises efforts at interfaith dialogue, will be presented to the spiritual leader in November in India.
The Dalai Lama has conveyed his acceptance through his US representative Tashi Wangdi. He also agreed to visit Hofstra, a private university in Long Island, New York, in the near future.
University president Stuart Rabinowitz Monday said Hofstra was pleased to bestow the inaugural prize on 'a person as worthy and renowned as His Holiness the Dalai Lama'.
He added: 'Awarding this prize allows us to recognise those who bring together people of all faiths, which now, more than ever, is important for the peace and prosperity of our world.'
The prize, to be awarded every alternate year, was established in 2006 through an endowment from the business family of Ishar Singh Bindra and named after the founder of the Sikh religion. Former Indian Prime Minister I.K. Gujral is a member of the honorary committee for the prize.
'Guru Nanak stood for brotherhood, peace and wonderful relations between communities, and I think His Holiness personifies that the best,' said T.J. Bindra, son of Ishar Bindra and a Hofstra trustee.
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