We began our Dalai Lama experience ("we" being me and my friends Miranda and Sarah) by hovering outside the auditorium in 90 degree heat/humidity, waiting for about an hour for the 25 security people guarding the entry to get permission to let us all in. The lecture was set for 2:30, but the auditorium doors would close at 2:00, so we got there around noon, anticipating a giant line similar to the ticket line of the previous week. But, it turns out that the doors didn't open until 1:00, so there we were, standing in the heat for an hour.
During this time, we caught a glimpse into the super-rich Dallas world that we always hear of but rarely encounter, as it occupies a plane of existence slightly above Fuzzy's Taco Shop. But get the Dalai Lama involved, and the Dallas elite are all over it. Example: While waiting to see the Dalai Lama, I met a real life "personal assistant." Not a personal business assistant, but an everyday-life assistant. While we were waiting to go in, this guy in his mid-twenties comes up and asks if we were in line to go in. We replied that there wasn't really a "line" per se, just many clusters of people, but that he was welcome to stand with us. Naturally, we started chatting. It was soon revealed that he wasn't actually going inside, but was waiting in line "for his boss." He explained that for the past 2.5 years, he's been working as a personal assistant for this couple, "taking care of the iPods and iPads and things" (that's a direct quote). I don't know how much care an iPod actually requires; I just stick mine in my iPod speaker where it charges itself until I unplug it and throw it in my gym bag. But apparently such mundane things are just too difficult for the upper crust to handle, and so they hire someone else out to keep track of their possessions and stand in line for them. The personal assistant guy seemed happy enough though (despite making a few cracks at his employers throughout our conversation) - I'd imagine he gets paid pretty well. Eventually, a skinny woman with whitish-blonde hair showed up, wearing a hat that fell somewhere between Kentucky Derby and royal wedding caliber. Personal assistant guy handed her a bottle of water, and then bopped off to his next task.
There was a great number of the Dallas elite standing with us outside the auditorium, and all very displeased to be doing so...you could tell that standing around waiting was "beneath" them, and it was made all the more difficult by the fact that there was no established line, so to speak. When the doors finally did open, we were nearly trampled as the crowd swooshed in around us...but somehow we got in, got ourselves up to the middle balcony, and managed to get good seats. At that point, we still had an hour left to wait, so we amused ourselves by posing hypothetical "If you were the Dalai Lama" questions to one another, such as "If you were the Dalai Lama, what would your favorite pastry be?" (lemon danish), and "If you were the Dalai Lama, would you prefer chicken nuggets or chicken sandwiches?" (chicken nuggets). This later gave way to a rousing game of find-that-word-in-the-program, which got surprisingly competitive and amused us for a good twenty minutes. Somewhere in the middle of all this, a group of people walked in on the ground floor and people started clapping, but it wasn't the Dalai Lama and so we kept on with our shenanigans.
And then the podium guy welcomed out His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. The crowd stood up again, cheering and clapping enthusiastically, and out walked Tenzin Gyatso, the Dalai Lama, a little old Tibetan man in a dark red monastic robe with gold accents. He looked exactly like you would expect the Dalai Lama to look. Reaching the row of chairs, he put his hands together and bowed solemnly to the audience, most of whom returned the gesture. And then, all of a sudden, he reached inside his robe and pulled out a bright red SMU baseball cap, and plopped it on his head, giving a mischievous little grin. The cheers doubled.
It may be prudent at this point to give you some basic info about the Dalai Lama. He is the spiritual leader of Tibet, and just recently resigned as Tibet's political leader. He was identified as the Dalai Lama when he was two years old, but didn't take effective reign until he was 15 - still pretty young, when you consider that he was carrying out negotiations with Mao Zedong when he was just 19. In Tibetan Buddhism, it is believed that the Dalai Lama is the manifestation of the bodhisattva of compassion, and has been consistently reincarnated since the 14th century. So, after one Dalai Lama dies, the high-up teachers of Tibetan Buddhism go searching among babies that are born close after for the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, gauging his recognition of the previous Dalai Lama's possessions and of certain people to determine who that reincarnation is. It's all quite fascinating.
After getting his honorary degree, the Dalai Lama spoke. I have to admit, I had trouble understanding him. Something about the acoustics of the auditorium, mixed with the overwhelming post-final sleepiness that hit me right in the middle of the lecture made the Dalai Lama's Tibetan-accented English really hard for me to comprehend. This was rather disappointing, I must say, but it's really my fault (I think the sleepiness was the main problem), and shouldn't be held against the Dalai Lama; because, when I DID understand him, everything he said was very eloquent. His words have that sort of profound simplicity that you would expect from a world spiritual leader. He mostly spoke to world peace, through the praising of pure democracy and a global citizenship that is not so hung up on divisions. "Basically, we are same human being," he said, "Different faith, different race, different language. But when we come from mother's womb, no difference of religion, no difference of culture." The divisions of the world are really those we create among us; babies, at the earliest stage of life, aren't concerned about these things. I thought that was a unique perspective, and I really appreciated it.
The audience was also largely comprised of high school students, and so the Dalai Lama took the time to address them directly. He told them that his generation, the grown-ups, have left the world in "quite a mess" for them - and that it's up to them to decide if they want to make the world happier, or unhappier. I loved that. What a simple way to understand such a complex world, and to understand one's place and role in that world.
It wasn't a very long lecture, but it was well worth it. I'm so thankful I had the opportunity to hear the Dalai Lama speak...what a unique opportunity! I must say, I don't think I ever saw that coming on the trajectory of my life. But I'm very happy to have had such an awesome experience :)
If you want to hear the Dalai Lama's lecture, follow this link.
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