Dalai Lama-Rama!
From April 11th-15th, the 14th Dalai Lama visited Seattle for a series of community events. Thanks to John I was able to score one of the limited number of tickets set aside for UW students, and on Monday the 14th I went to Hec Edmundson Pavillion to hear the Dalai Lama speak. While waiting for the program to begin my friend Morgan asked why, if the Dalai Lama is supposedly enlightened, does he continue to be reincarnated (as opposed to ascending the Wheel of Samsara- the cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth in which mankind is trapped). Good question. That evening while doing a bit of reading (which I should have done before) I found out that the Dalai Lama is the reincarnation of a Buddhist Master who has in fact achieved enlightenment and ascended the Wheel, but has chosen to be reborn on Earth in order to guide others. The current Dalai Lama was born in Tibet in 1935. At the age of two he was proclaimed the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama and at 15 he took the throne as the spiritual (and often political) leader of Tibet. Now, at the age of 72, the Dalai Lama is an in-demand guy. He's the first Dalai Lama to travel to the West, and has been making public speeches and promoting peace in 46 countries for over 30 years. During his talk on campus he discussed personal responsibility, demilitarization, the environment, civic duty, and compassion. I really enjoyed the emphasis on the role of the individual in creating widespread change. According to the Dalai Lama, you have to achieve inner tranquility before you can responsibly help others. After you have achieved inner peace it is your duty to spread a message of tolerance and love through compassionate acts. The Dalai Lama also points out that when considering issues such as the environment, if one person changes not much will happen, but if that 1 person's actions cause 10 others to change, and those people's actions cause even more people to change, the impact will be profound. So when I groan, "waste of electricity" whenever my classmates use the automatic door openers at school, I'm not being obnoxious, I'm saving the planet. Anyway, I really enjoyed seeing/hearing the Dalai Lama, it was definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity. In addition to his words, he conveyed such a nice feeling....
