2nd thoughts after 1st meeting with the 14th Dalai Lama

according to a local newspaper, he looked like:

photo by Lannis Waters

but what i saw was more like this:

and this:

and this:

i listened to the people around me projecting onto him. to some he was a celebrity, to some a novelty, to some a world leader.

to some he was holy:


he comes onstage and offers pranam to the audience's applause. the woman next to me is beaming and has told me what an honor it is to be in his presence. she hopes the question she submitted is chosen, but it is not.

the talk is enjoyable, somewhere between conversation and satsang. it is neither political not canned, and just before he walks in the energy shifts. i wonder if it is because he has entered the space, or if it is because of our collective knowledge (and silence) upon his entering the space. i close my eyes at times and focus on this energy. i can feel it radiating from the front of the room and wonder if it is from him or my imagination. my mind adds occasional observations, but remains largely at bay.

once the event ends i run into two doctors, one of whom i respect, the other who i love and respect. we walk together across campus in the just-rained humidity, reminiscent of summer and so out of place in mid-February. they speak of the Dalai Lama and i listen. it is amazingly superficial.

i walk with the until we reach the library and then say goodbye. i leave a message for a former swami in Vancouver and contemplate what transpired. perhaps it was only a reflection of my own doubts regarding the borders between the unspeakable truth we call divinity, and the pernicious projections of the mind...

i have never seen
one who so clearly lives
at the junction of worlds
real and imagined.