Waiting for the Dalai Lama
We heard him before he walked into the small lecture theatre. He was wired and muttering in Tibetan, maybe something like, ‘Where am I again’. We, the staff and past students of the Buddhist Studies in India program (maybe 50 0r 60 0f us) and a few members of the local Tibetan community, were standing in anticipation and respect. He seemed frail, and was helped to his seat by the Vice Chancellor, which brought tears to my eyes. Tibetan stuff always has that effect on me. He saluted us with the anjali mudra then sat quietly rearranging his robe hrmphing and peering myopically around. We waited expectantly. He had just arrived from Melbourne and his plane had been delayed. I imagine this often happens and he barely has time to get his bearings. How does he cope with his punishing speaking schedule and the endlessly expectant audiences waiting for his words of wisdom? His monk’s standard issue brown leather lace ups made him seem particularly vulnerable, or maybe I was just star struck and romanticising.
A blurry picture of the Dalai Lama at UTAS
After words from the academics, he took the podium and proceeded to speak about how important it is that universal ethical values, unaligned to religion, be taught in schools. He perceives this as something lacking and urged us to begin research in the area. Young people need to understand that ‘happiness cannot be found on the internet’. For an hour he ranged over a number of topics including the importance of religious harmony in which he cited the Indian democracy as an example (not so sure about this - maybe a prudent comment!). He gave anecdotes about people he has met around the world and the loneliness and isolation he finds. The importance of love and compassion in overcoming fear and anger which have disastrous effects on one’s immune system. He seemed to move from topic to topic in a random kind of way but always at the heart of his words were the concepts of community, compassion and humanity.
Finally he asked for our questions, for which we were quite unprepared and was apparent in the quality of the questions asked . He gave short shrift to queries like ‘What can we do to help Tasmania’s environment’ his response was that India and China’s problems are far greater. He dismissed a broad question about philosophy as not being clearly defined. I really just wanted to personally thank him for initiating the TBSIEP, but didn’t have the courage to speak up.
It was over too soon and he left, we all came out feeling inspired and uplifted and for my part a little sad. There is no doubt that this man is charismatic and deeply compassionate in a practical and commonsense way. He is also the consummate diplomat. His talk was rather disjointed and it’s often difficult to understand his accent but despite this his charisma and compassionate intention have a positive effect. What he said was nothing new but it is always good to hear messages of hope and occasionally he came out with a real gem which had me nodding in agreement. His fundamental likeability and humour shone through.
I wonder if this was his farewell speech to UTAS, how much longer can he continue to travel the world? He commented that it was time for people of his age group to say ‘Bye, bye’ and let the younger generation take over. It will be very sad when he can no longer be a globally roaming advocate for peace, love and harmony.