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Dalai Lama: Pilgrimage to Tibet planned

He left Tibet in 1959 and lives in exile in india.

By Ed Adamczyk
The Dalai Lama. UPI/John Angelillo
The Dalai Lama. UPI/John Angelillo | License Photo

DHARMSALA, India, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- The Dalai Lama said Thursday plans are being made for a return pilgrimage to Tibet after over 50 years in exile.

He mentioned the plans in an interview in Dharmsala, India. The Dalai Lama, 79, fled Tibet to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Communist rule.

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"It's not finalized, not yet, but the idea is there. Recently, some Chinese officials, for example the deputy party secretary in the autonomous region of Tibet, he also mentioned the possibility of my visit as a pilgrimage to that sacred place."

He added that he welcomed the opinion of Chinese president Xi Jinping, whose government would appoint his successor.

"This is something very new, a Communist Party leader saying something about spirituality," he said. He earlier had referred to Xi as "more open-minded" than his predecessors.

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