The Dalai Lama Teaches in Budapest

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama Saturday begins a two-day teaching session in front of some 11,000 Hungarian and foreign believers. A total of 22,000 are expected to attend during the weekend, organisers say. All tickets have been sold out and the sessions will be broadcast live on the Internet.

People arrive from 73 countries to take part in the teachings Saturday and Sunday.

The Mayor of Budapest, Gábor Demszky will confer on His Holiness the Dalai Lama the title of Honorary Citizen of the capital on Saturday, after an unanimous vote in the City Council on 26th August.

Hungary's connection with Tibet dates back to a long-lasting tradition. Hungarian scholar and pioneer of Tibetology Kőrösi Csoma Sándor (Alexander Csoma de Kőrös) wrote the first Tibetan-English dictionary in 1824 after several visits in the region.

The Dalai Lama will deliver a speech in front of the Hungarian Parliament and students of the Central European University of Budapest Monday.

No official meetings with members of the Hungarian Government have been announced.

This is the Dalai Lama's seventh visit to the country. The Tibetan leader last visited Hungary in 2000.