An audience with His Holiness, Part 1

We all woke early yesterday morning to get ready for our audience with His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. Some men wore jackets and ties while others wore male chupas. The women in our group all donned their own chupas, and we all met in style at the Pemathang hotel, where in the lobby we had breakfast and coffee and discussed the days events.

Students bought books written by His Holiness in hopes of getting them signed during the audience. We also purchased ceremonial Khatas to be placed over our necks, just in case we all got to receive a personal greeting by him. Jeeps arrived to pick us up and take us to the Norbulingka Institute at 10:30am. Because of His Holiness’ busy schedule we had a window of time during which he could see us, and we wanted to get to the Institute early. We arrived at about 11:30 for a possible audience at 12:30. We pulled up in our jeeps through the front gates, which were adorned with flags of red, yellow, and green, some of which were delicately embroidered with Tibetan knots, lotus flowers, and other powerful cultural symbols. We disembarked and made our way onto the grounds of the institute, stepping on a cobblestone walkway overtop of fountain streams that cut through the stones at various intervals at our feet. Through elaborately constructed pillared gates, painted with colors and hand-drawn symbols we moved. Prayer wheels lined the wide archway, and spun as we went beneath it.

As mentioned we first thought that we would be received by His Holiness at 12:30, and waited anxiously in the gardens of Norbulingka until then. The landscaping job was astounding. There was green everywhere. Sunken ponds met with retaining walls that moved with the contours of the earth. The stone and cobble pathways led in between bamboo clumps and large-leaved jungle shrubs, and showed characteristics of the harmonious relationship with nature that is central to the traditional Tibetan worldview. It holds that everything is interconnected, and that seeking to understand nature is better than attempting to subdue and control it.

Two and a half hours slipped by, or rather crawled by. One couldn’t help but remain anxious and slightly nervous about meeting a Nobel Peace Laureate, and one of the most revered spiritual leaders of our time. His direct connection to the very well-published human rights issues between Tibet and China also made the importance of this experience something close to astronomical. We are very lucky.

At about 1:30pm Geshes Kelsang Damdul and Geshe Jamphel arrived. It was a good sign that the time was drawing near. Geshe Kelsang Damdul is the assistant director of the Institute for Buddhist Dialectics. Geshe Jamphel is the principal of the Sarah College for Higher Tibetan Studies. Both are revered in within the community here for the scholarship and accomplishments. At near 2:00pm we received the signal to mobilize and all followed the monks towards the center of the Institute. A large crowed had gathered in a semi-circle on the massive concrete patio in front of the main four-story building. The architecture was much like many of the buildings here, concrete and squarish, but this one was adorned with colored paint, and square pillars and corners were incut with intricate interwoven lines and Tibetan symbols. We were ushered along the sides of the crowd of lay Tibetans, and monks and nuns. After a brief acknowledgement from security we moved up to main arched entryway of the Institute and after only a moment were ushered in by Geshe-la Kelsang Damdul.

The second security check went smoothly. Cameras were not allowed, so we had all left them at our houses, and phones had to be turned off. We were all ushered into a small room. About 45 plastic seats were placed in rows of eight or so, all in front of one single brown wicker chair. Whether on purpose or not, we’ll never know, but the chairs for us to sit in were all red and white. Did they know these are Miami’s colors? We sat and waited for another solid hour for His Holiness to arrive. We had plenty of time to check out the décor. Various Thangkas hung from the walls depicted such deities as Avalokiteshvara, Padmasambhava, Tara, and others I didn‘t recognize. A large incense burner fumed, and added to the spirituality of the place. Again the upper wall borders were striped with red, yellow, and green, and which created a warm glow when combined with the rest of the orange painted wall color scheme.

After many door-opening false alarms, the moment finally came and His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet was ushered in. Having read so much about His Holiness, of his exodus to India from Tibet in 1959, of the creation of a democratic government, and system for refugee processing and aid in exile, and having experienced many aspects of Tibetan culture through being here, observing, recording, interviewing, and talking with those to whom some my own experiences pale in comparison, I was very honored to be sitting where I was at that moment. He was accompanied by his personal envoy, and instructed us to sit down before he had reached his own chair.

We sat and Dr. Sidky, from the right side of the front row, began by thanking His Holiness for giving us the audience. He introduced Glenn Platt from AIMS at Miami, and told His Holiness of Dr. Platt’s multiple projects involving the preservation of ancient texts, and the creation of a freely accessible on-line Tibetan language learning software. Dr. Sidky also explained that Miami University had been bringing students to the area for over five years. He reminded the Dalai Lama about the memorandum that the University signed with His Holiness last December, solidifying the semester-long Tibetan Studies Program that we are all engaged in this Fall. Dr. Sidky also gifted to the Tibetan leader a celebratory text commemorating Miami University’s 200 years, and explained that the Provost’s invitation to visit the Oxford campus was still open. The Dalai Lama warmly acknowledged these words, and motioned for the eight or so students from the British School from New Delhi to begin with their questions.

Stay tuned.