Dalai Lama lands in Indian state claimed by ChinaThe Dalai Lama Dalai Lama (dä`lī lä`mə) [Tibetan,=oceanic teacher], title of the leader of Tibetan Buddhism. Believed like his predecessors to be the incarnation of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, 1935–, arrived in northeast India on Sunday to visit a remote, high-altitude Tibetan monastery monastery Local community or residence of a religious order, particularly an order of monks. Christian monasteries originally developed in Egypt, where the monks first lived as isolated hermits and then began to coalesce in communal groups. on a trip that has infuriated in·fu·ri·ate tr.v. in·fu·ri·at·ed, in·fu·ri·at·ing, in·fu·ri·ates To make furious; enrage. adj. Archaic Furious. China, which claims the surrounding Himalayan region as its own. Thousands of Buddhists gave the Tibetan spiritual leader, who has lived in exile in India for 50 years, a rousing rous·ing adj. 1. Inducing enthusiasm or excitement; stirring: a rousing sermon. 2. Lively; vigorous: a rousing march tune. 3. welcome as he landed by helicopter near the Tawang monastery, perched at 3,500 metres (11,400 feet) in Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (är'ənächəl prədĕsh`), state (2001 provisional pop. 1,091,117), 31,438 sq mi (81,424 sq km), NE India, bordered on the north by the Tibet region of China and on the east by Myanmar. The capital is Itanagar. . Sandwiched between Myanmar, Bhutan and Tibet, the lush, forested state of Arunachal is governed by India but claimed by China. Beijing has slammed the visit as a provocation Conduct by which one induces another to do a particular deed; the act of inducing rage, anger, or resentment in another person that may cause that person to engage in an illegal act. aimed at harming relations between China and India. Tawang -- 400 years old and the second largest Tibetan monastery in India -- holds personal history for the Dalai Lama. When he fled Tibet in 1959 following a failed uprising against Chinese rule, Arunachal was his point of entry to India and he took refuge in Tawang at the start of his decades in exile. Preparations for the week-long tour have been underway for two months, with the monastery receiving a facelift and regular prayers being held across Arunachal for the Dalai Lama's safe journey. It was not his first visit to Tawang, but the timing has caused Beijing to protest in far stronger fashion than in the past. Indo-Chinese tensions over their disputed Himalayan border -- the cause of a brief but bloody war in 1962 -- have risen in recent months, with reports of troop movements and minor incursions on both sides.
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