By Sonali Verma

NEW DELHI, July 6 (Reuter) - Buddhist priests prayed on Thursday for the Dalai Lama's long life as he marked his 60th birthday with a call on the world's rich countries to take the initiative in sharing their wealth with the poor. Priests sang an ancient hymn for the Tibetan god-king's longevity as they presented him with a crown spangled with colourful ribbons, a traditional Tibetan painting and silk scarves. The spiritual leader told a gathering of scientists, philosophers, diplomats, monks and human rights activists that a major problem facing mankind was the consumption pattern of the world's rich nations.

"One major dangerous problem is the gap between the North and the South, the rich and the poor," the 1989 Nobel Peace laureate said. "Not only is this morally wrong, it is a source of trouble resulting from the big gap and how the wealthy consume the resources of the world we all share. "Unless the rich countries take the initiative to change the present pattern, there will neither be sufficient resources to continue feeding the present uneven consumption nor will the rest of the world be at peace," he added.

Celebrations for the Dalai Lama's 60th birthday, considered a significant milestone in Buddhist tradition, began on Tuesday with a dawn prayer-meeting at a park dedicated to the Buddha in New Delhi. The celebrations included a tree-planting ceremony, Tibetan folk dances and seminars on non-violence and compassion in the 21st century, inner and outer disciplines and sciences and spirituality. At dawn on Thursday, the Dalai Lama participated in an all-religion prayer meeting at a memorial to Mahatma Gandhi, India's apostle of non-violence. The god-king, believed to be an incarnation of the Buddha, offered a traditional Tibetan white silk scarf and joined his palms in prayer at the memorial, where Gandhi's ashes are kept.

The Buddhist leader has been living in exile in India's Himalayan town of Dharamshala with thousands of his followers since an abortive uprising in 1959 against the 1950 Chinese annexation of Tibet. "I have spent more than half my life in exile," he said on Thursday. "In some ways, this is a source of sorrow." Organisers of the celebrations said the Dalai Lama wanted the festivities to have no political overtones, apparently in deference to an understanding between India and China that New Delhi would not allow anti-China activity on Indian soil. But on Wednesday, the Dalai Lama called for a ban on testing and stockpiling armaments in Tibet, saying the threat of nuclear disaster was the greatest danger facing the world.

"To ensure longterm peace and stability, our ultimate goal should be demilitarisation of the entire planet," he said. "The risk remains as long as even a handful of these weapons continue to exist." Relations between India and China, who fought a border war in 1962, have in recent years begun to warm though the Dalai Lama is closely watched by Beijing.