The Dalai Lama Comes to Ottawa

The other day, I had the pleasure of seeing the Dalai Lama as he made a talk in my hometown of Ottawa. The place was packed. Seats weren’t cheap, but I got a free seat as a thank you for volunteering work I had done.

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Above is a picture of me in line along side my two sponsors, so to speak. It was an interesting talk. This man was not there to give a lecture, he was there to have a conversation. In that conversation, he talked about Tibet’s cultural autonomy, his dealings with president Bush, and his philosophy on the UN and general worldly disagreements. It was not what I had expected.

For one, I didn’t think that a man of his disposition could joke so much. The man was very funny. Furthermore, I really didn’t anticipate such a “simple man’s” view of the world. That’s not to say that I thought it naive, or untrue – but it was certainly a unique take on things.

Meanwhile, China has been furious over the Dalai Lama’s visit to Canada, and his being accepted by the Canadian government. Just recently, the Indian government had been informed to politically ostracize the man, and the South Koreans denied his entry outright. Sun Lushan, a Chinese political counselor, declared the Dalai Lama’s warm welcome “…a blatant interference in China’s internal affairs and has severely hurt the feelings of the Chinese people and will gravely undermine the relationship between China and Canada.”

The Canadian government secretary of state for multiculturalism, Jason Kenny, responded with a priceless quote. As he said: “I hope the entire world gets the message that attacking a 72-year-old Buddhist monk who advocates nothing more than cultural autonomy for his people is counter-productive.”