Dalai Lama shares moment with Aung San Suu Kyi

In a message posted to his website yesterday, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader said the two Nobel laureates had met privately on Tuesday for around 30 minutes. He said he had told Suu Kyi he had “real admiration for your courage” and that he believed she would be of “great service to humanity.”

The meeting coincided with Suu Kyi’s 67th birthday as she made her first visit to Europe in 24 years. She was freed from house arrest by the country’s rulers in 2010.

She has now finally received her honorary degree from Oxford University, where she studied in the 1960s.

In a speech, Suu Kyi praised the role Oxford played in helping her see humankind at its best during her long years under house arrest in Myanmar.

“The most important thing that I learned was respect for all of civilization,” she said. “In Oxford I learned to respect all that is best in human civilisation.

“That helped me cope with something that was not quite the best.”