What Makes the Dalai Lama Lovable?
From Turning Madness into Flowers: A Book of Common Praise
What Makes the Dalai Lama Lovable?
© 2009 by Alice Walker
His posture
From so many years
Holding his robe with one hand
Is odd.
His gait
Also.
One’s own body
Aches
Witnessing
The sloping
Shoulders
& Angled
Neck;
One hopes
He
Attends
Yoga class
Or does Yoga
On his own
As part
Of prayer.
He smiles
As he bows
To Everything:
Accepting
The heavy
Burdens
Of
This earth;
It’s
Toxic
Evils
& Prolific
Insults.
Even so,
He sleeps
Through
The night
Like a child
Because
Thank goodness
That is something
Else
Daylong
Meditation
Assures.
You could cry
Yourself to sleep
On his behalf
& He
Has done that
Too.
Life
Has been
A great
Endless
Tearing away
For
Him.
From
Mother, Father, Siblings, Country, Home.
And yet
Clearly
His mother
Loved him;
His brother & sister
Too:
Even his
Not so constant father,
Who
When Tenzin was
A boy
Shared
With him
Delicious
Scraps
Of
Succulent
Pork.
He laughs
Telling this
Story
Over half a century
Later
&
To who knows
How many
Puzzled
Vegetarians:
About
The way he sat
Behind
His father’s chair
Like a dog,
Relishing
Each juicy
Greasy
Bite.
Whenever I see
The Dalai Lama
My first impulse
Is to laugh
I am so happy
To
Lay eyes
On
One
So effortlessly
Beautiful.
That balding head
That holds
A shine;
Those wire framed
Glasses
That might
Have come
From
Anywhere.
That look of having offered
All he has.
He is my teacher;
Just staying alive.
Other teachers
I have had
Resemble him
In some way;
They too
Were
&
Are
Smart
And Humble;
Fascinated
By Science & things like
Time,
Eternity,
Cause & Effect;
The Evolution
Of the Soul.
A
Soul
That
Might
Or might not
Exist.
They too
See all of us
-Banker, murderer, gardener, thief –
When they look
Out across
The world:
But that is not all
They see.
They see our suffering;
Our striving
To find
The right path;
The one with heart
We may only
Have heard
About.
The Dalai Lama is Cool
A modern word
For
“Divine”
Because he wants
Only
Our collective
Health
& Happiness.
That’s it!
What makes
Him
Lovable
Is
His holiness.
***