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.

***