Dalai Lama in Bloomington

Pictures and story of our trip to Bloomington July, 1996 to see the Dalai Lama…

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His Holiness, the Dalai Lama visited the US this year. One of his few stops happened to be Bloomington, Indiana. His older brother lives in Bloomington and he was there to lay the cornerstone for the new temple/retreat they are building there at the Tibetan Cultural Center.

We went down Thursday and attended a private reception at the TCC for him. It was hosted by Steven Seagal (the actor and Aikido sensei). As we do Aikido, we thought it was interesting that he was to be there. Unfortunately, we found him to be somewhat unapproachable and not too friendly. Considering he was supposed to be hosting the reception, we found him not overly pleasant. I could be wrong, but that was my impression.

Fortunately, we were there to see the Dalai Lama! And we did! Do you realize how many Tibetans cannot even own or see a picture of him and we were in the same room, feet away from him. He actually shook my husband’s hand. Actually, anyone that was the tiniest bit aggressive could have. Neither of us are, but Sean was lucky. It was a good night, marred only by the fact that my husband and I were so worked up about it that we were not being as considerate of each other as we should have been. Doesn’t it figure… Guess we still have some work to do. Also, that morning our camera quit working when we tried it. So we bought another camera and took it. Well, we forgot to get a battery for it so when we got ready to take pictures there, it didn’t work. We didn’t even have a disposable camera with us. Karma?

Then on Friday he gave a public speech at the Indiana University Auditorium. We got there about 2 hours early and still barely got in. They had overflow seating in other buildings with closed circuit TV. It was free to the public and was a wonderful talk. Again, I can’t believe how lucky we are to be able to see him. It is an honor that people in the US (and the free world in general) perhaps do not appreciate. You might want to check out the story on the Chinese attempts to annihilate Tibetan culture.

Saturday morning he gave a talk and teaching at the Tibetan Cultural Center. These pictures are from then. He spoke and gave the teaching of the Aspirational Bodhichitta. There is more information on his speeches and this teaching at the Tibetan Cultural Center Web Page.

The Tibetan Cultural Center

Then we ate at the Snow Lion restaurant in Bloomington (one of two great Tibetan restaurants there) and drove home.

The next day, Sunday, I flew to Las Vegas for a week for Delphi and Java classes. Talk about a different world! But that is another story…

Sean, at the Tibetan Cultural Center on Saturday.

…and me (looking much younger and thinner than I do now!)