--- description: In the Tibetan spiritual leader's first time addressing the chamber, he recalled one of his favorites to deliver the opening prayer on the Senate floor: "Speak or act with a pure mind, and happiness will follow you like a shadow that never leaves" title: Dalai Lama Gives Prayer on Senate Floor image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt976a9aeba6e4ab38/6986843206f2c1ffca32dbab/dalai-lama.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Dalai Lama Gives Prayer on Senate Floor by [Alex Rogers](/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 6, 2014 3:22 PM CUT  Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama meets with House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif., on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, March 6, 2014\. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama meets with House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif., on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, March 6, 2014\. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)Charles Dharapak—AP by [Alex Rogers](/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 6, 2014 3:22 PM CUT The Dalai Lama delivered the opening prayer on the Senate floor Thursday morning, the first time the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader spoke in the Senate. See the unofficial English transcript of his prayer below. --- > “” --- After the prayer, the Dalai Lama watched on as senators recited the pledge of allegiance. “I know I speak for the entire Senate family when I express our gratitude for the prayer in the Senate and his words of encouragement and his blessing,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/14056/dalai-lama-senate-prayer/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/14056/dalai-lama-senate-prayer/"},"headline":"Dalai Lama Gives Prayer on Senate Floor","datePublished":"2014-03-06T15:22:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:37:10.549Z","description":"In the Tibetan spiritual leader's first time addressing the chamber, he recalled one of his favorites to deliver the opening prayer on the Senate floor: \"Speak or act with a pure mind, and happiness will follow you like a shadow that never leaves\"","url":"https://time.com/14056/dalai-lama-senate-prayer/","keywords":["Senate","Congress","Religion","faith"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt976a9aeba6e4ab38/6986843206f2c1ffca32dbab/dalai-lama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alex Rogers","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt976a9aeba6e4ab38/6986843206f2c1ffca32dbab/dalai-lama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Dalai Lama, John Boehner, Nacy Pelosi","caption":"Dalai Lama, John Boehner, Nacy Pelosi","creditText":"Charles Dharapak—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/14056/dalai-lama-senate-prayer/","name":"Dalai Lama Gives Prayer on Senate Floor"}}]}] ```