Dharamshala: Miami University is holding a Tibetan Culture Week from 22-26 March in preparation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s visit in October, The Oxford Press reported Friday.

The week will offer a series of lectures, meditation sessions and a prayer ceremony that are free and open to the public.

Geshe Kalsang Damdul, assistant director of the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics based in Dharamsala, will lead the events.

The programmes come ahead of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s visit to Miami University on 20-22 October to recognise a programme that takes students to Dharamsala, India for an entire semester.

“The success of the program is what promoted the Dalai Lama to accept the university’s invitation,” said Professor Deborah Akers. “He receives hundreds of invitations so we’re very lucky he accepted ours.”

The College of Higher Tibetan Studies has taken 65 students to Dharamsala with the semester-long program last fall and summer sessions during the last five years. Students live among Tibetan refuges and take courses on Buddhist philosophy, Tibetan medicine and meditation, as well as an intensive sequence of language courses in Chinese, Tibetan and Hindi.

“The students return with a broader view on life. It’s a very unique program,” Akers said.

During Tibetan Culture Week, the public will be invited to Sangsol (incense burning ceremony) at noon on 22 March, at the Hub near Upham Hall.

On 24 March, Geshe Damdul will present “An Introduction to Tibetan Meditation” from 9 to 10 a.m. and a lecture “Toward a Compassionate World in the 21st Century” from 3 to 4 p.m. in 212 McMillan.

Throughout his visit, Geshe Damdul will meet with faculty and students to discuss Buddhist philosophy and issues between China and Tibet.

On 25 March, “Global Women’s Day: Tibetan Women” will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Shriver Center and a showing of the film “Kundun” will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. in 101 Bachelor Hall. The Association of Women Students is sponsoring the events. The film is co-sponsored by Students for a Free Tibet.

Miami established a relationship with the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics in Dharamsala, India, during summer workshops in Tibet led by Dr. Humayun Sidky and Dr. Deborah Akers from 2004-2008. His Holiness the Dalai Lama is a patron of this institute, one of the premier institutions for study of Buddhist thought and philosophy.

A university delegation, led by Provost Jeffrey Herbst and including anthropology chair Dr. Linda Marchant and Prof. Mark Allen Peterson, visited Dharamsala in Fall 2009 and signed an affiliation agreement. The following year, the department made its Tibetan studies a semester-long program.