Dalai Lama packs arena

TAIPEI, Taiwan, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- The Dalai Lama, in Taiwan to comfort families of typhoon victims, Tuesday told a packed arena audience in Kaohsiung he shared their sorrow.

Speaking in his native Tibetan at a Dharma assembly in the southern port city, the spiritual leader said he had come to the island nation only to help release the souls of the dead and to pray for the good fortune of the survivors of Typhoon Morakot which left more than 600 dead, Taiwan's Central News Agency reported.

The exiled leader said he is in Taiwan only to pray for the storm victims although China, which has never given up its sovereign claim on Taiwan, opposed the trip.

Some 400 followers of a local Buddhist association protested outside the arena, claiming Tibetan Buddhists have sabotaged their precepts, the report said. There were also unification supporters who said the sermon was a tool to split the Chinese race.

"As a Buddhist, what I can do is pray for them (storm victims), wishing them that in their next life, they can still be human and live a happier life," the Dalai Lama was quoted as saying by the Taipei Times.

Speaking to reporters later, he said he welcomed the protests.

"I am dedicated to promotion of democracy -- that's their freedom of expression. I love it," he said.

The Dalai Lama has told CNN he will not meet with Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou so as not be seen as politicizing his trip, he told CNN.