People talk about things being "life changing" all the time. I have found--for the most part--that declaring things such as grocery delivery, phone pockets in leggings, face cream, protein powder, and all various and sundry as "life changing" is both trite and terribly uncreative. As a direct result of this, personal bias I'm not really sure how I would describe one of the most incredible experiences of my adult life: hearing the Dalai Lama speak in 2013.
Having been raised in a spiritually ambivalent house, I have always been, unaccountably, fascinated with other folks' faith systems. I won't go into the looooooooong and evolving process that is my own set of beliefs (that's another post for another time--perhaps) but I am truly interested in how people process their faith--regardless what faith they ascribe to. Having said that, until early in 2013, I never really felt drawn to any sort of event/person/system in any especial way. When I learned that HH The Dalai Lama was going to visit Madison, WI though, I just knew I had to go. I had this feeling that this diminutive fellow was someone I absolutely must see--it felt important to do so. I attribute this to having recently finished the book, The Open Road by Pico Iyer. So. . . I did something I almost never do. . . I used a personal day at work so I could go see His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama--a man who is the the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people, the "face" of Tibetan Buddhism, and about whom I knew very little.
Warning: If you are predicting a story of my conversion to Buddhism to follow--maybe stop now. You might be disappointed.
The Dalai Lama spoke for about an hour on this occasion. Sometimes directly to the audience and sometimes through an interpreter. He spoke on many topics--mostly grounded in the principles of applying compassion and kindness to every aspect of one's life. Despite the sheer breadth of his talking points, there were a few things that--even seven years later--I recall clearly. These are the pieces of the day that, I assume, have been the most meaningful to me if for no other reason than they are the items that lingered in my brain and that whisper back at me periodically.
The first of these was a 10-15 minute segment of his talk where HH spoke very stridently about NOT converting people to any faith system. He talked about faith being so intensely personal that a person's will to participate in such--regardless of it's manifestation--should be held as sacred. This, with the caveat that the faith of said individuals was a positive force in the world and did no harm. Looking back, I am sure that this particular part of the message is what "won me over" so to speak. It's not that I was skeptical--at least not on a conscious level--but in the back of my mind there must have been some part of me waiting for him to profess Buddhism as the only true path to. . . . well whatever it is we are all searching for.
Another aspect of the Dalai Lama's message that has clung to me was how often he brought his talking points back to the idea of personal responsibility for making the world a better place. He spoke, at length, about how the horrors of the world could easily plunge a person into despair, and how we need to approach our fellow humans with open, loving, and compassionate hearts. He asserted that only then can the world heal. While I do not, personally believe that the entirety of the human race holds this capacity--thus ensuring the continuation of poverty, war, greed, and a whole host of other, truly awful conditions of the human spirit--I DO believe that the endeavoring to be this more perfect human is worth the effort. . . even if one is, ultimately, all too human and unsuccessful in their attempts.
The final--and most vividly etched in my mind--aspect of the event is the sound of the Dalai Lama's laughter. I am not over stating my feelings on this when I say that it touched my soul. I'm fairly certain that HH's peals of merriment could erase any troubled thought I might possibly manufacture. It was, in my mind, the kind of laughter that one can only make when they have found a sincere place of quietude and peace within their time here. I was struck that this man who had been dispossessed of his home, and in exile most of his adult life, could harbor so much joy in a world that is too often cold and cruel.
On the way home from the event, I remember pulling off to the side of the road to process all the parts of the Dalai Lama's talk. At the time, I wasn't really paying attention to my driving and thought it would be fairly pointless to die in a fiery wreck without having had the chance to regale my husband with the amazing experience I'd just had. I remember there being so much to think about. Most of it, I have forgotten since then--with the three things above still being firmly implanted in my memories of the day. At this point, one might assume that I read everything there was to read about the Dalai Lama or about Buddhism. I did not. Oh, I have read a few books--most notably The Art of Happiness which many folks have read--but I didn't want to "ruin" the day by getting all research-y about it. Being completely content with my experience, I went about my life.
Except. . . I didn't. . . exactly. The parts of the talk about compassion and being a force for a better world have come back to me on a regular basis. The idea that all faith (and even an absence thereof) is sacred if practiced with a loving and compassionate heart changed the way I view how others express and act upon their desire to be better humans. And. . . that laugh. . . I'm pretty sure that will be with me until the day I die--such a happy sound.
So, for me, seeing His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama speak truly was life-changing. Not in the way that being a wife or mother has been life changing--and those things are gloriously important to me--but, rather, in how I view myself and my place within the entirety of humankind. It made me feel simultaneously much more and much less important than the sum of my parts.
