A visit with His Holiness the Dalai Lama

I have admired His Holiness for many years, as do so many but discovered he would be in Memphis this next Wed. for a public appearance. An hour later I had purchased a ticket to see this remarkable human being that describes himself only “As a simple monk”. Over the last 20 years I have spent in months perhaps 4 years somewhere in Asia. Living in Bali, Hindu of course, but a significant population of Buddhist, as well as Moslems. The religious tradition of Bali is Buddhist/ Hindu and it is hard to separate the two. I have also been in both India and Nepal and the Nepali people, now home to thousands perhaps millions of Tibetan refugees is a very different place than anywhere else I have been in this part of the world. It is hard to spend so much time in a part of the world without something rubbing off and sticking to you. Like many in America, I was raised in the Christian tradition and at one point in my adult life was a Candidate to the Episcopal Seminary. I have grown much more Eastern now however, and the belief in reincarnation gives me no pause for thought. I have no need to neither convince nor defend this belief.

For the first time in many years, we were not in Asia as usual over the last 12 months and I think perhaps I have grown “stale” with America and all that goes with it, so my discovery of HH in Memphis is like a breath of fresh air. I have read every book written by Carlos Castaneda, a system of thinking that stretches ones mind to the limits, but a tradition I have great respect for, Kaprov’s Tao of Physics, and also two by HH. All offering the reader the same but in a different style. Perhaps that is why His Holiness has always appealed to me, in his great respect for all religions. I do not consider myself a religious person but a spiritual one and try to live up to that-----which I mostly fail. Anyone that has spent any real time in Asia has thought about enlightenment, nirvana, re-birth, karma, and how those things have affected their lives. Don Juan speaks of “perusing knowledge and gaining personal power”, the Balinese speak of “balance”, in other words, how does one know good without knowing evil----the black and white they wrap around the banyan trees. These are all just words, we are the ones that give them meaning and the use of them in our daily lives is how we measure ourselves.

After going to bed last night as sometimes happens, I thought about HH and his so very peaceful persona and I thought about enlightenment and that he most probably was born an enlightened person. Don Juan speaks about the road to knowledge and I have often thought of myself on that road and is that not the same as the path to enlightenment. I think it must be. One part of me says, “How in the world can you see yourself as one on the road to enlightenment with all your failings”? I have met thousands of people that must be far ahead of me; the Jain monks carrying their begging bowls, dressed in rags, on the road alone until death relieves them. How, a person of no real credentials can ever even feel he could see the first mile of a road that leads on forever, is too much. Then I thought of HH and how he says over and over he is just a simple monk and I thought well I am just a simple person, on that we can all agree, and my karma is mine and the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. So I will take that first step, and this simple person will simply try to be a better person. “Namste, the divine in me bows to the divine in you”.

Peace

Carter is exactly correct

President Carter’s remarks on racism in the South is dead on correct. Having roots in the South that span 7 generations and having lived 67 years I think both President Carter and I have a credible view of racism where we live. Michael Steel, chair of the Republican Party disagrees and states the GOP has a significant black membership that would disagree. But let’s take a look at the two men. President Carter, Nobel Laureate, one of the most respected past Presidents in the country’s history and Michael Steel, a feeble choice by Republicans to attempt to compete with the country’s first Black President. I lived briefly in the Bay Area and no, you did not see racism like you would in Selma, Al, Jena, La, or Lucedale, Ms. But as Gen. Powell stated, any black American has experienced some form of Racism.

Robert Gibbs has taken the best position in stating the President does not see that much racism because if he says anything else, he will immediately be accused of “playing the race card” and attention will be taken away from the major topics. When I regularly hear the “N word, those people, they have more kids to collect welfare”, it is hard to deny the facts. Is the group of hate mongers a minority-------of course they are. Are there Democrats with this same bias, of course but when I hear things such as, “After all it was blacks that sold blacks, I did not own slaves, I know racism is alive and well.