His Holiness the Dalai Lama is presented with an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Tartu at the start of his meeting at the Estonian Academy of Sciences in Tallinn, Estonia, on 18 August 2011. .. Upon arriving in Helsinki, His Holiness responded to a Finnish reporter’s question on the purpose of his visit by saying that he had come to see his many old friends in the country again...

In his speech His Holiness remembered with warm words his visits to Estonia some years ago, mentioning that he loved Estonia and Estonian people for their courage...

His Holiness told that the purpose of his visit was to carry on with his two lifelong commitments of promoting human values, warm heartedness and religious harmony...

His Holiness the Dalai Lama is greeted by well-wishers on his arrival at Shedurb Choekhorling - A Tibetan Buddhist Center at Mount Saleve, France, on 12 August 2011.... During lunch His Holiness the Dalai Lama said faith must be developed on the basis of conviction and thorough reasoning. Otherwise faith is not stable.

His Holiness added that when he first laid out his Middle Way Approach he had maintained that ultimately, it would be up to the Tibetan people to decide.

On 7 July His Holiness the Dalai Lama continued with his preparatory prayers for the Kalachakra initiations and was also welcomed in the United States Congress by Speaker John Boehner and congressional leaders from both the Republican and the Democratic parties... His Holiness said that after coming to India as a refugee in 1959, he began democratization process. By 2001 we already achieved elected political leadership, he said...

In the course of it His Holiness briefly addressed the audience about the background of his relation with the Kalachakra Initiations... His Holiness shared with the audience an “interesting dream” that he had at the conclusion of the initiation in Dharamsala.

Asoka, grandson of Chandragupta, was one of the first royal patrons of Buddhism. The first was, perhaps, Bimbisara, who lived at the time of the Buddha. Asoka's legend is recorded in a second century book called the "Asokavadana" which was translated into Chinese by Fa-ch'in in 300 A.D. He is also known from his edicts written on rocks and pillars throughout India. In his youth. Asoka was known as Canda Asoka, the fierce Asoka, due to his aggressive nature. As a prince, he was appointed governor of Vidisa (modern Bhilsa) where he married a rich merchant's daughter. On hearing of his father's impending death, he hurried to the Capital, Pataliputra,