The Dalai Lama is a Nice Guy … and what a Sweet Smile!

To the astonishment of a few co-workers and at least one family member, I didn’t go and see the Dalai Lama when he was in town over the weekend.

Don’t get me wrong, I like the guy. I’ve read some of this books and especially the ones that he wrote, I like.

And I did attend a conference with about 100 other American Buddhist teachers about 10 years ago in beautiful northern California and happened to be shaking the man’s hand when the photographer from a San Francisco newspaper snapped a shot they liked and printed.

So I’ve got that going for me too.

One thing I remember the Dalai Lama saying repeatedly was that he was just a simple monk and had no special powers.

Surprisingly, one of my co-workers spoke to me about him and got all googly-eyed saying, “Oh, he has such incredible energy.”

However, she’s apparently not interested in practice, just being around his energy. This seems like guru-worship, you know, the close friend of teacher-hating – making the practice about somebody or something else.

Whether the simple Buddhist monk Tenzin Gyatso has or doesn’t have incredible energy is not so interesting.

Now if somebody was to say, “Wow, that guy has this incredible energy and I’m going to study with him and realize whatever it is that he’s realized,”

or “Wow, what a teacher! Now I really see what I need to do to wake up and come hell or high water, I’m going to follow through…” well, that would be more to the point, imho.

Anyway, he’s a nice guy with a sweet smile. Maybe you are too.

He’s also an excellent ambassador to the world for the buddhadharma. Maybe you are too.

That’s my mostly crabby post for the day.  

Click here for a detailed summary of the Dalai Lama’s appearance in Minneapolis.