Dalai Lama

A couple of week ago, I did something I never imagined I'd do: I went to a talk by the Dalai Lama! His Holiness was talking about "Engaging Compassion" in Louisville, and my friend, Cindy, invited me to join her. We weren't alone! Thousands of people showed up to see him--one entrance line wound around the arena he was speaking in, all the way across a bridge spanning the Ohio River, ending very near the Indiana state line. We made it in pretty quickly, thanks to Cindy's expert choice of a much faster line. We wandered through the Tibetan Market in the lobby where vendors were selling prayer flags, Buddha statues, and tee-shirts, and then we took our nosebleed seats for the talk.

The first speaker was a Buddhist monk from Louisville who introduced the Dalai Lama. He wasn't the best speaker, he cleared his throat or coughed between nearly every word, but he must have been nervous: it was a huge crowd, after all. The DL was next. He took the podium, and the first thing he did in his talk on compassion was to mock the monk who proceeded him! He did it in very good humor, just kind of teasing the monk about his poor public speaking skills, but still! It cracked me up. It seems that the DL is just as human as the rest of us. Somehow, I found that sort of refreshing.

The talk was good, though I struggled some with the DL's accent. I loved the places where he'd crack himself up and giggle: he is a man who seems to laugh easily. The afternoon ended with several interfaith speakers who spoke about compassion, too, and I loved this part. It was so interesting and inspiring to hear the connections between the Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Hindu, and even atheist versions of compassion. Oh, and the music! That was wonderful, too: lots of Louisville musicians entertained us, including the fabulous St. Stephen Temple Choir. They brought the house down.

I had a great day with Cindy and then Dalai Lama. I'm not sure that the event made me grow in compassion, but it certainly made me think about how I practice compassion in my life. Like most of us, I could use some more practice!



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