Dalai Lama

Dalai Lama

Wet, grumpy and bleary eyed at having to drive through peak hour traffic in pouring rain to make the appointed 8am media call at the Southee Complex, Olympic Park in Homebush, my disposition was not improved when I was subjected to a mandatory pat down by a police officer with a sniffer dog by his side.- this was a scene that would be repeated in a few days when I would be trying to gain entrance to a long weekend dance party, I thought to myself. The difference, however, was that such measures were put in place to protect his Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama who was speaking to the assembled media on one of his favourite topics-the principles of meditation.

Despite the weather and traffic conspiring against me, I had fulfilled my end of the bargain: I had managed to get to the venue on time. Where was the bloody Dali Lama? Another 20 minutes had elapsed - and still no sign of him!

It was at this point that the representative from a PR firm announced to the media pack: “His Holiness is on his way and won’t be too long,” prompting a colleague to turn to me and ask, “Are you hoping to gain enlightenment from today Don?”

I replied off-handedly that I had experienced all the enlightenment I would ever need when I finalised my divorce twelve months ago. Whilst my glib, off-hand remarks got a bit of a giggle from colleagues (mostly male) in my immediate vicinity, it did get me thinking: Am I really this cynical? My immediate answer was a resounding yes, but I forced myself into a more rigorous internal debate.

Having some Buddhist friends, I am well versed in the rhetoric of his Holiness; indeed, I agree wholeheartedly with many of his ramblings, particularly those centred around the search for truth and compassion, the need for more religious tolerance, the virtues of motherhood and his calls for Tibetan autonomy - issues he touched on whilst standing two metres right in front of me.

My cynicism, moreover, did not involve what he was saying; the issue was rather whether I - your typical inner city living, vain, pretentious, materialistic guy of 35 years - could take something from these teachings and become a better person. Of course not, and I severely doubt whether anybody else in the room could either. Sure, he made us all feel good - in the same way those freaks that lob to Anthony Robbins type seminars hold hands, tell each other they can feel the energy, and thus buy ‘temporary enlightenment’ - are able to feel good.

However, the heart of the Dalai’s mantra revolves around putting away our materialistic instincts, in adopting a ‘being’ mode as apposed to ‘having’ mode. Indeed, he is not the only person who proposed such a theory: Erich Fromm, in his well regarded critique on modern man ‘To Have or to Be’ spruiks a very similar mantra.

The irony with all these guys - Erich, Dalai Lama et al saying similar stuff – is that they are all well regarded, revered and honoured as wise and great men. But society as a whole chooses to merely put them on a pedestal, rather than live their lives according to what they preach, or take from them those values that just legitimize their pre-existing lifestyle. Such is the human condition!

For my part, I was just happy that his holiness is well rehearsed in the art of holding a pose - something that many of Sydney’s current A-List could learn something from.

Post by Don 13th of June 2008