Dalai Lama to speak on 'art of happiness' at Penguin Annual Lecture

The Dalai Lama will speak on 'the art of happiness' at the fifth edition of the annual Penguin Lecture in New Delhi on Saturday. The previous speakers at the prestigious event have been journalist Thomas Friedman in 2007, diplomat Chris Patten in 2008, Nobel Prize winning economist Amartya Sen in 2009 and eminent historian Ramchandra Guha in 2010.

"The Penguin Annual Lecture is the only publishing event in the country today that encourages and nurtures dialogue between a prominent speaker and their audience. The response to all our previous lectures in Delhi have been overwhelming, so we are now planning to hold Penguin Lectures in more cities across the country in 2012," Andrew Phillips, CEO and president of Penguin Books India, said.

The Penguin Annual Lecture is the first annual lecture to be organised by a publishing house in India, and features some of the world's most respected leaders, thinkers and writers.

The Dalai Lama, who was born in 1935 to a peasant family and named Lhamo Dhondup, was recognised as the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama when he was two. The Dalai Lamas are believed to be manifestations of Avalokiteshvara, the Boddhisatva of compassion and patron saint of Tibet.

A Nobel Peace Prize winner, the present Dalai Lama also became the first Nobel Laureate to be recognised for his concern for global environmental problems.

The leader was in the news recently for attending a four-day congregation of Buddhist monks and scholars that triggered a row between India and China, and led to the postponement of border talks between the two nations.