Lama Rama

We spent part of yesterday afternoon listening to Tenzin Gyatso. the 14th Dalai Lama give one of homely little lectures on how to be happy. He has a genial, aw-shucks attitude that makes him seem like a Tibetan Garrison Kiellor, especially when it came to the Q&A time at the end. The questions ranged from political – China in Tibet – to existential – “is there a beginning and an end?” – to woeful “What should I do with my life?” The answers could have come from Ann Landers, with a Buddhist twist. Things going wrong in your life? Try to rise above your worries? Can’t stop worrying? Blame karma – maybe it was something you did in a past life.

I’m sure people who have to deal with him as the titular head of state for Tibet or as a religious leader don’t see him as harmless and kind-hearted. He has to do some rough stuff sometimes, as the protesters outside reminded us. Any time you combine bureaucracy (material world) and religion (world of the non-rational) there will be conflict. That’s why there are hundreds of so-called Christian religions. It reminds us once again that founding a nation on “religious principles” isn’t such a good idea. In fact, I was happy to hear the Lama say that ethics, good behavior and the pursuit of happiness are just as much the province of reason and secular beliefs as of religion.