--- title: Know Right Now: Obama and the Dalai Lama at Prayer Breakfast description: The Dalai Lama will be attending the National Prayer Breakfast February 5, but why is this going to be so significant? canonical: https://time.com/3688150/know-right-now-obama-china-dalai-lama/ author: TIME Video article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-29T18:32:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T03:59:39.194Z article:section: Politics og:title: Why It's a Big Deal for the Dalai Lama to Go to the National Prayer Breakfast og:description: Will appear in public with President Obama for the first time og:url: https://time.com/3688150/know-right-now-obama-china-dalai-lama/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt862361267c9bb526/69877ca42dce013dc79dd424/32word.jpeg?branch=production&width=900&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 900 og:image:height: 506 og:image:alt: 32WORD og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why It's a Big Deal for the Dalai Lama to Go to the National Prayer Breakfast twitter:description: Will appear in public with President Obama for the first time twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt862361267c9bb526/69877ca42dce013dc79dd424/32word.jpeg?branch=production&width=900&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Know Right Now: President Obama And the Dalai Lama > Sponsored content. 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Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [TIME Video](https://time.com/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Jan 29, 2015 6:32 PM UTC  Getty Images by [TIME Video](https://time.com/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Jan 29, 2015 6:32 PM UTC TIME revealed on Thursday that the Dalai Lama will be [attending](http://time.com/3687508/dalai-lama-prayer-breakfast/) the National Prayer Breakfast on Feb. 5. But why is this going to be so significant — and what does China have to do with it? 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