Comments on: Meeting the Dalai Lama http://www.leithjb.net/blog/2008/05/23/meeting-the-dalai-lama/ Personal diary of John Barnabas (aka Barney) Leith Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:25:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Barney http://www.leithjb.net/blog/2008/05/23/meeting-the-dalai-lama/comment-page-1/#comment-14625 Barney Fri, 30 May 2008 17:21:51 +0000 http://www.leithjb.net/blog/?p=773#comment-14625 William J., thank you for your story about meeting the Dalai Lama the connection with Hari Belafonte's "Yellow Bird" song. You ask a very good question about people's encounters with the Báb, Bahá'u'lláh, 'Abdu'l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi. Did those meetings stay with them for ever? William J., thank you for your story about meeting the Dalai Lama the connection with Hari Belafonte’s “Yellow Bird” song.

You ask a very good question about people’s encounters with the Báb, Bahá’u'lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi. Did those meetings stay with them for ever?

]]> By: William J. http://www.leithjb.net/blog/2008/05/23/meeting-the-dalai-lama/comment-page-1/#comment-14624 William J. Fri, 30 May 2008 14:52:14 +0000 http://www.leithjb.net/blog/?p=773#comment-14624 I met and shook hands with the Dalai Lama in of all places Buchannan St Glasgow Outside Snackbar called "The YellowBird" and for some inexplicable reason everytime I hear the Hari Belafonte Song Yellow Bird I think of The Dalai Lama, and likewise every time I see The Dalai Lama on TV or in a Photograph I think of Meeting Him shaking his hand and I hear that song. throughout my life I have had brushes with The Celebrity secular and non-secular. I often wonder, some met The Bab, Baha`u`llah, Abdu`l-Baha and The Guardian... yet walked away. Did such a meeting forever stay with them I wonder. I met and shook hands with the Dalai Lama in of all places Buchannan
St Glasgow Outside Snackbar called “The YellowBird” and for some inexplicable reason everytime I hear the Hari Belafonte Song
Yellow Bird I think of The Dalai Lama, and likewise every time I see The Dalai Lama on TV or in a Photograph I think of Meeting Him shaking his hand and I hear that song.
throughout my life I have had brushes with The Celebrity secular and non-secular.
I often wonder, some met The Bab, Baha`u`llah, Abdu`l-Baha and The Guardian… yet walked away. Did such a meeting forever stay with them I wonder.

]]> By: Barnabas meets the Dalai Lama | Barnabas quotidianus http://www.leithjb.net/blog/2008/05/23/meeting-the-dalai-lama/comment-page-1/#comment-14623 Barnabas meets the Dalai Lama | Barnabas quotidianus Fri, 30 May 2008 09:21:05 +0000 http://www.leithjb.net/blog/?p=773#comment-14623 [...] Here’s a picture of the Dalai Lama with the religious representatives at Lambeth Palace on 23 May. You can find my post about this wonderful encounter here. [...] [...] Here’s a picture of the Dalai Lama with the religious representatives at Lambeth Palace on 23 May. You can find my post about this wonderful encounter here. [...]

]]> By: Sunday Collection: Stardust http://www.leithjb.net/blog/2008/05/23/meeting-the-dalai-lama/comment-page-1/#comment-14591 Sunday Collection: Stardust Sun, 25 May 2008 16:42:40 +0000 http://www.leithjb.net/blog/?p=773#comment-14591 [...] Archbishop of Canterbury, to hear a meditation/homily by the Dalai Lama. I know you’ll find Barney’s account of this event and what the Dalai Lama said both interesting and [...] [...] Archbishop of Canterbury, to hear a meditation/homily by the Dalai Lama. I know you’ll find Barney’s account of this event and what the Dalai Lama said both interesting and [...]

]]> By: Barney http://www.leithjb.net/blog/2008/05/23/meeting-the-dalai-lama/comment-page-1/#comment-14588 Barney Sun, 25 May 2008 06:48:43 +0000 http://www.leithjb.net/blog/?p=773#comment-14588 Tess, Toby and bilo, thank you all for your wise reflections on the Dalai Lama. Many years ago the Dalai Lama gave the Lambeth Lecture. As always he spoke his deep truth simply and directly. After the lecture a Christian clergyman got up and asked a long and complex question. No doubt it was of considerable intellectual interest. The Dalai Lama (who had been speaking in English, as always, conferred with his interpreter, then smiled around at us and said, "Very difficult question. Cannot answer." Thus he pricked the balloon of intellectual pomposity in the directest manner imaginable. It was wonderful - and done with such compassion. Tess, Toby and bilo, thank you all for your wise reflections on the Dalai Lama. Many years ago the Dalai Lama gave the Lambeth Lecture. As always he spoke his deep truth simply and directly. After the lecture a Christian clergyman got up and asked a long and complex question. No doubt it was of considerable intellectual interest. The Dalai Lama (who had been speaking in English, as always, conferred with his interpreter, then smiled around at us and said, “Very difficult question. Cannot answer.”

Thus he pricked the balloon of intellectual pomposity in the directest manner imaginable. It was wonderful – and done with such compassion.

]]> By: bilo http://www.leithjb.net/blog/2008/05/23/meeting-the-dalai-lama/comment-page-1/#comment-14587 bilo Sun, 25 May 2008 04:48:15 +0000 http://www.leithjb.net/blog/?p=773#comment-14587 The Dalai Lama is truly a wonderful person--he is very kind, humble and makes those who come in contact with him feel great comfort and peace. I know this firsthand as I spent a weekend in his presence in the late 1980s. One day, we both sat (during lunch-time) together at the edge of a garden in Vermont to eat sandwiches. My 10-year-old son was with us, when my son got up to take a picture of the two of us he forgot to take the cap of the camera off. The Dalai Lama pointed at the camera, and very kindly said "cap off...cap off". The Dalai Lama is truly a wonderful person–he is very kind, humble and makes those who come in contact with him feel great comfort and peace. I know this firsthand as I spent a weekend in his presence in the late 1980s. One day, we both sat (during lunch-time) together at the edge of a garden in Vermont to eat sandwiches. My 10-year-old son was with us, when my son got up to take a picture of the two of us he forgot to take the cap of the camera off. The Dalai Lama pointed at the camera, and very kindly said “cap off…cap off”.

]]> By: Toby Doncaster http://www.leithjb.net/blog/2008/05/23/meeting-the-dalai-lama/comment-page-1/#comment-14583 Toby Doncaster Fri, 23 May 2008 23:36:09 +0000 http://www.leithjb.net/blog/?p=773#comment-14583 My older daughter, Tahirih, once made an interesting comment, "How can we say that something is transparent, when we can still see its shape and form? Can't we just agree that everything is translucent?" What I am trying to say, is that though what was discussed may seem rather obvious, humanity in fact would rather turn away from this common spiritual heritage. Instead of accepting that we share fundemental truths, we point out the differences, and use these as barriers between true understanding, true felicity, true love for all humanity. We would rather use labels to discriminate against those we see as different, and use these these labels to decide who receives preferential treatment. It takes men of insight like the Dalai Lama to point out, that what we perceive as translucent, is in fact, rather transparent. All we need now is the courage to confront our own hearts, and submit to what he has proclaimed to be true. And more people like yourself to proclaim this self-evident truth! My older daughter, Tahirih, once made an interesting comment, “How can we say that something is transparent, when we can still see its shape and form? Can’t we just agree that everything is translucent?”

What I am trying to say, is that though what was discussed may seem rather obvious, humanity in fact would rather turn away from this common spiritual heritage. Instead of accepting that we share fundemental truths, we point out the differences, and use these as barriers between true understanding, true felicity, true love for all humanity. We would rather use labels to discriminate against those we see as different, and use these these labels to decide who receives preferential treatment.

It takes men of insight like the Dalai Lama to point out, that what we perceive as translucent, is in fact, rather transparent. All we need now is the courage to confront our own hearts, and submit to what he has proclaimed to be true.

And more people like yourself to proclaim this self-evident truth!

]]> By: Tess http://www.leithjb.net/blog/2008/05/23/meeting-the-dalai-lama/comment-page-1/#comment-14582 Tess Fri, 23 May 2008 21:06:55 +0000 http://www.leithjb.net/blog/?p=773#comment-14582 It warmed my heart to read this account of your wonderful day. I believe the Dalai Lama has so much to teach us about non-violence and a holistic world-view. It warmed my heart to read this account of your wonderful day. I believe the Dalai Lama has so much to teach us about non-violence and a holistic world-view.

]]>