AKIPRESS.COM - The Dalai Lama preached to thousands of Buddhists in Mongolia despite demands from China that the visit by the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader be scrapped, at a time Mongolia seeks a critical aid package from its powerful neighbor, says The Washington Post.

The Dalai Lama addressed followers at the Gandantegchinlen Monastery on Saturday and spoke about materialism at the start of a four-day visit that Mongolia says is purely religious in nature and won’t include meetings with officials.

On Sunday, the Dalai Lama chanted special sutras.

Mongolian Buddhism is closely tied to Tibet’s strain and many in the heavily Buddhist country revere the Dalai Lama, who made his first visit in 1979.

Mongolian religious figures say the visit could be the last for the 81-year-old spiritual leader, and some of his followers traveled hundreds of miles to see him while braving the coldest November temperatures in a decade.

Daritseren, an ethnic Mongolian from Russian Siberia, said she only heard on Friday that the Dalai Lama was visiting and traveled with 40 other people for 15 hours overnight to make it just in time for the sermon.

Boldbaatar, a 75-year-old herder, said he rushed from 200 kilometers away.

“I’m an old man,” he said. “Maybe I’m seeing His Holiness, the incarnation of Lord Buddha, for the last time.”

Religious scholars said the Dalai Lama is expected to offer input on the search for the 10th reincarnation of the Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, a top-ranked lama in Buddhism.