In October 1973, the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, visited The Abbey as part of his first trip to the West. He held a reception in the great hall for fellow Tibetan people who since the 1960s had fled to the United Kingdom after the Chinese invasion of Tibet. The Buddhist leader wanted to meet people who were “thinking deeply about the problems of mankind”. He urged British Buddhists to “develop compassion”.