There was quite a crowd. Men in suits and men in gym shorts. People smacking gum and blatantly ignoring the ‘no cell phone’ rule. Ignorance never felt so apparent.
But then he was on stage, barefoot and smiling. He spoke about compassion and affection, he spoke about self-discipline.
The ignorance surrounding me was not for me to judge; if I wanted to be happy in my moment with the Dalai Lama I would need to choose to be happy.
One of the first things he said was “I am happy.” You fully trust and believe him. He said he wasn’t a healer and he doesn’t believe in them, itching at the back of his head he chuckled about his skin disease and remarked how he wouldn’t have it if he were able to heal himself.
The Dalai Lama has never taken a bath! This is his contribution. When he leaves a room he turns the light off.
As he spoke this I thought to myself, how elementary and basic. Everyone knows that they are supposed to do those things; turn the water off when brushing your teeth, close the refrigerator door… where is the profound wisdom?
It was there. I, in my infinite quandary of problems, had overcomplicated matters.
This man wasn’t going to sit lotus style and meditate the earth to pristine majesty. His answer was that he conserves water by not using it for bathing in a tub and when he isn’t using a room he simply switches off the light. Simple and true. This is what he can do, personally, and that is good. He is happy with this. Pollution is everywhere, natural resources are depleted, violence is surging, the gap between rich and poor is as broad as ever–our problems are overwhelming. We don’t know where to start to stop the madness. Choose one thing and do it well. I was making it too complicated because it is so complicated and in the mess of chaos one becomes indifferent. I was making myself as big as the problems themselves, taking myself too seriously. All you need to do is choose what you can do and then–do it.
Crisler Arena was steaming hot. There had to have been about 10,000 people all warming up to their own enlightening experiences. The Dalai Lama continued to converse with us, as if we were house guests coming over for a bit of lunch and tea. He entertained himself and laughed heartily after accidentally calling himself a Christian. “Obviously, I’m Buddhist,” he smiled out at the crowd and finished his thoughts about ecology and sustainability. “If this is interesting to you learn about it and experiment. If it isn’t you can go forget about it.” He gave a mighty laugh at this, waved his hands in a shoo motion and then bowed.
It was an experience I’ll remember forever.