FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 21, 2003

CONTACT: Lisa Lacher, (515) 271-3119

TIBETAN BUDDHIST MONKS TO VISIT DRAKE UNIVERSITY

Seven Tibetan Buddhist monks will visit Drake University next week, giving a lecture on the politics and culture of contemporary Tibet and performing a ritualistic dance ceremony.

The monks will discuss "Contemporary Political and Cultural Conditions in Tibet" at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 27, in Bulldog Theater in Olmsted Center, 29th Street and University Avenue. T.K. Lin, professor of history at Drake, will moderate the presentation.

At 7 p.m. Friday, March 28, the monks will perform a Buddhist Cham dance in the Performing Arts Hall in the Harmon Fine Arts Center, 25th Street and Carpenter Avenue.

Both events, which are free and open to the public, are part of "Exploring Tibetan Culture," a program sponsored by the Center for Global Citizenship, the Department for Study of Culture and Society, the Student Activities Board and Humanities Iowa.

"This program will introduce students and the Des Moines community to the fascinating culture, politics and religion of a proud people who live under conditions of considerable stress, including threats to the survival of their traditional culture," said David Skidmore, director of the Center for Global Citizenship.

Among the monks are two reincarnated Lamas, teachers, two monks who were born in Tibet and fled as refugees, and a teacher at the monastery's thangka painting center. The monks are associated with the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in India. Originally based in Tibet, the monastery was destroyed during the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1959 and was relocated in the Southern Indian state of Karnataka in 1972.

For more information, contact David Skidmore at (515) 271-3843 or send an e-mail message to david.skidmore@drake.edu.