May 9, 2007

Hello, Dalai Lama


The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for LivingThe Dalai Lama was in a light hearted mood on that warm and sunny afternoon in Chicago, when he spoke before a crowd of about 11,000 people who had bought lawn tickets to see, or rather hear him speak, at Millenium Park in Chicago on May 6.

He joked about his meeting in the 1950s with Chairman Mao, who gave him "permission" to fly the Tibetan flag in a Chinese-occupied Tibet. He acknowledged that some of the crowd in the park were there to satisfy their curiousity about the Dalai Lama. He told them he was there to speak to them as a person, implying he was not addressing them as Tibet's 14th Manifestation of the Buddha, but as another man.

The casual and light-hearted atmosphere of the day was evident too among some of the people there to protect him. The African-American city employee who was there to tell the crowd what they could and could not take into the park also gleefully announced, "No marijuana! The Dalai Lama does not want to smell marijuana!"
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When he focused on his topic, "Finding Inner Peace in a World Full of Turmoil." the Dalai Lama spoke of the need for compassion and for diluting anger by turning it into something more contemplative and analytical.

Here's a Chicago lawyer's point of view. See the link below.

http://ellenofthetenth.blogspot.com/2007/05/hello-dalai-dalai-lama-comes-to-chicago.html

1 comment:

  1. I have not read much by the Dalai Lama, but what I have read tells me that most of us make too much of our differences. We all must learn to show compassion and respect for others.

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