God receives royal acclaim in the form of blaring trumpets and clapping hands, the psalmist announces this Sunday, while the author of the Letter to the Ephesians prays that the eyes of readers' hearts be enlightened so as to know “the riches of glory.” The Dalai Lama was cheered and honored Monday in London as he received the richly endowed Templeton Prize for his work highlighting the spiritual dimension of life.

China invaded Tibet in 1950 and has occupied it ever since. After a failed Tibetan uprising, the Dailai Lama fled to India in 1959. He announced last year that he was giving up his role of political leader of Tibet and would focus on spiritual responsibilities.

Speaking to reporters before the award ceremony at St. Paul's Cathedral in London, the Tibetan spiritual leader said millions of young Chinese were showing an interest in spirituality. "Look at China now, the moral crisis, corruption—immense," he said, adding that China had "no proper rule of law."

The Buddhist monk said he would donate $1.5 million of the Templeton Prize money to charity Save the Children's work to combat malnutrition among children in India, where the Tibetan spiritual community resides in exile. The rest of the $1.8 million prize will go to scientific causes.

The Templeton Prize honors the Dalai Lama's efforts to encourage "serious scientific investigative reviews of the power of compassion," organizers said. "Our real hope [is the] younger generation," the 76-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate told a crowd of more than 2,000 inside the cathedral. "If we properly educate them then they will change the whole world."

Sources: Articles by Adrian Croft for Reuters, Agence France Presse, and templetonprize.org