Dalai Lama begins U.S. tour

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Dalai Lama started a 16-day U.S. tour, presiding over an interfaith service and receiving an honorary degree at a Jesuit-run university.

Flanked by representatives of 25 religions Friday at the University of San Francisco, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader said all faiths have the same basic aim -- to breed compassion among their followers.

"I will continue to pursue my struggle, which is to campaign for peace," he told the crowd of about 1,000 faculty, students and members of San Francisco's Tibetan Buddhist community.

Before the Dalai Lama received his honorary doctorate of humane letters, worshippers took turns reading from his writings, and from Muslim, Hindu, Christian and Jewish sacred texts.

Later, he was planning to conduct a public teach-in, hold a private meeting with members of the Tibetan community and attend a sold-out event sponsored by the American Himalayan Foundation at the San Francisco Symphony Hall.

The Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet for India in 1959 after a failed revolt against Chinese rule over his country, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for nonviolent resistance to the Chinese occupation there.

The Chinese government has criticized the United States in the past for its support of the Dalai Lama. A Monday commentary in the state-owned newspaper China Daily labeled the spiritual leader a "political plotter" and warned that the Dalai Lama's visit this month could cause damage to U.S.-China relations.

"The Tibet Autonomous Region is an integral part of the Chinese territory, and the United States' granting permission for a visit by this political exile constitutes a serious intervention into China's internal affairs," the commentary said.

The last time the Dalai Lama toured the United States was in May 2001. The University of San Francisco was selected as one of his stops this time because the school boasts several experts on Tibetan Buddhism.

The second stop on his tour will be Bloomington, Ind., where his brother, retired Indiana University professor Thubten Norbu, has directed a Tibetan cultural center since 1979. On Sept. 11, he will travel to Washington, where the Dalai Lama will meet with members of Congress and the Bush administration. His final stops will be Boston and New York.