We had the good fortune to be invited to a Humane Society International function commemorating World Compassion Day on November 28. With numerous luminaries present, the feature presentation was His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
I’ve never seen or heard or met or read him. Apart from generally keeping up with his life through various news reports over the years, I never really knew anything about him. I must confess that Tibet, its cultural history and their tempestuous relationship with China has never been my area of interest. Recently, I read a book ‘Trespassers on the Roof of the World’ by Peter Hopkirk which gave me my first glimpse of this amazing land and its’ even more amazing history, but I digress…
Back to His Holiness… He turned out to be a super funny, sporting, even cheeky guy, and of course compassionate, because that is what he is. The topic of the day was prevention of cruelty to animals, with considerable pontificating on the subject leading up to the Dalai Lama’s speech. Not to say the speakers weren’t good. In fact they were really good, dead serious and most passionate about the matter at hand. And that’s when I learnt the difference between passion and compassion.
The Dalai Lama came on wearing a Humane Society ‘baseball cap’ and straightaway confessed that he wasn’t always a vegetarian. In fact, when he was younger, he gave up meat-eating once and fell very sick. He got a severe attack of jaundice that turned him completely yellow. He jokingly said that he had become a ‘Living Buddha’, not through meditation or enlightenment but through illness. He said that while we must be kind to all living creatures, he hasn’t been able to always feel that way towards mosquitoes, especially while sleeping 🙂 He recounted a story of him with Bishop Tutu where the Bishop told him that he doesn’t behave ‘holy’ enough, that he is too casual. He felt that there was no difference between him and us, and that if the guiding philosophy says that all are equal, he can hardly be more equal than anyone else!
I have never met anyone so holy who is also so cool, so down to earth, so unaffected. And so quick-witted 🙂 At one point, when the debate really heated up, and it was being suggested that the only route to salvation and happiness is by turning vegetarian – (for me, a strict meat eater, that can be quite traumatic 😦 ) – his tongue-in-cheek interjection “That fellow Hitler, he was a vegetarian, and not a very good person”.
He described an incident in the Great Hall in China when he was there on a State Visit. It was all very formal and full of ceremony, discipline and silence when he asked his handlers what exactly would happen if he didn’t follow protocol 🙂 I feel sorry for the poor Chinese officials, they must have been truly foxed by this mischievous and jolly old man.
His outstanding message was not take yourself too seriously, to be happy, to be compassionate from within and not just at face value, to be kind to all of God’s living creatures, to never generalise – because there are always differences, exceptions & circumstances, and most importantly, to never let your passion – about anything or anyone – ever overtake your compassion towards everything and everyone!!!
It was a simply divine experience 🙂
SAMEER NAIR 