I Saw the Dalai Lama Today

I'm not a Buddhist, and I don't know much about the Dalai Lama, the history of Tibet, or much else, but I went to see His Holiness the Dalai Lama with 20,000 of my closest friends at the Pepsi Center in Denver this afternoon.  I call him "His Holiness" out of respect and tradition, though, as I said, I'm not a Buddhist myself.

I learned a few things today that I hope to keep with me for the rest of my life.  

The first thing I learned is that if I want to gather enough material for a really awesome Sunday night dKos diary I should have taken some notes.

Since I didn't do that, however, I'll have to just share some impressions and things I can remember.

First of all, the man is incredibly humble.  He put everyone at ease in his first few moments by simply being.  By that I mean, he shared a few details about the mundane nature of his life that everyone could relate to, and denied that he has any special mystical powers, which seemed to not only have a very relaxing effect on the whole crowd, but he in his person could serve as an example for us all, as opposed to some God-like figure, even with the clear spiritual aura he exuded.  He has a charming and pleasing demeanor.

As he spoke, little nuggets of wisdom just toppled out, like gifts from an overflowing Santa sack.  The key words I took away from today, and what I think His Holiness is all about, were compassion, kindness, and warmth of heart.

He talked about anger, and its deleterious effects on the person experiencing it, how it clouds judgement and causes mistakes to be made.  He didn't say so in anger, just matter-of-factly.  

I have to admit that I was torn here a little bit because until Howard Dean made his - yes, quite angry - speech to the California Dems in March of 2003 (kicking off the resurgence of the Democratic Party from being the pathetic doormat that it was up until then (and still is in some quarters)), I felt somewhat unfocused and lost, politically speaking.  Dean's anger was righteous, and I for one truly appreciated hearing it.  

Nevertheless, the point was well taken that anger is often if not always something that doesn't help to accomplish the goals of the person who is angry.

He talked about staying calm, just on a personal level.  The news of the day comes in, and, in some surface way, may cause us shallow ups and downs, but the sense of confident calm underneath should remain the same.  I liked that one.    I know I sometimes allow short-term changes in my life to affect me in too strong a way.  I'm going to try to be better about staying on an even keel.

Of interest to me too was his understanding of the interconnectedness of the world.  He discussed how, because of the way the world has become inter-dependent, the whole concept of "vanquishing an enemy" has lost its meaning.  Because we are connected to our enemies, if we kill them, we kill ourselves at the same time.  (I'm sure I didn't explain this very well just now, but it made sense when he said it.)

He advocated being in touch with reality, honoring scientific solutions (wow, was it ever refreshing to that from a man I took to be a religious leader!), using the power of reason and the sharing of ideas to educate and learn from those with whom we disagree, rather than using force, which only serves to destroy both sides.  

There are times, it seems to me, when the use of force is unavoidable, as when criminals are caught.  I'm not sure what he would say about that, but I agree with what he says in terms of nation-states, or even more importantly, between cultures or civilizations.

Finally, he said he believes Islam is not a "violent religion" as many are trying to say these days.  He joked about how ironic it was that he of all people would be the one to defend Islam, but was very comfortable in doing so.  He talked about the 1000 years that Muslims and Hindus lived next to each other in India without serious conflict, and shared some anecdotes about specific Muslim people who had shared some small kindness with him.

I'm just writing this diary to share some of the things I liked, and some of the things I hope to do more personal research on, not to convince anyone of anything.  I hope I didn't misconstrue what the Dalai Lama said, though it's possible I misunderstood something, so please do your own research if you're interested to do so, and don't hold him to whatever it is I thought he said.

I do feel much more at ease with my point of view now.  Not that I think I was wrong before, not at all - His Holiness confirmed and reinforced many of my own feelings - but a good measure of my defensiveness feels gone, suddenly.  I feel like I can go forth, with my reality-based, secular/scientific approach to problem-solving, without a lot of the anger that has served to agitate my mind, and which keeps me in the trap that some Republicans like to keep me in:  arguing over minutia and missing the big picture.  

One last point His Holiness made:  he insisted that people don't try to make mistakes, or do the wrong thing.  If they're doing the wrong thing, it's because they have a misguided worldview.  The best thing we can do for them is to love them, but try to teach them the error of their ways.  The best thing we can do for ourselves is not to wallow in the muck with them if that's where they need to be.

Oh and, of course (this one's mine), while all the above is going on, the best thing we can do for everyone is to kick their asses at the ballot box on November 7.