What the Dalai Lama taught me.

On Friday I was lucky enough to attend the public talk the Dalai Lama gave in Adelaide.  He was extremely funny and found straightforward lighthearted beautiful ways of dealing with even the most serious and difficult of questions.  Much like Louise Hay who is also a person of considerable age, the similarities in how they viewed the world with love and humour, stuck with me.  There was a child like manner to the Dalai Lama with simple topics amusing him (the fart joke has been widely circulated in the media) and his laugh/giggle was just magical to hear.

I have spoken with a few people who attended and we all seem to have learned something different from his talk.  Here are a few things I learned:

There is immense power behind what he chooses to do - he speaks and teaches what he believes in (his truth) to make the world a better place - and he does this with the threat of death everyday.  I didn't realise his political issues until I connected with this energy.  I even started coughing when I connected as his channel was so strong.  The power and conviction of his words and his purpose was unwavering (and very inspiring).

He described happiness/inner peace as satisfaction.  It felt more than just contentment to him.  He said that even pain can be satisfying.  I would equate this to the feeling of following our soul's desires - as very satisfying.

In the car on the way home my friend mentioned that Buddhists do not believe in a god.  I was surprised, as he spoke a lot about god in his talk but I can see that it was his way of embracing all other religions and beliefs through his talk.  I now understand a bit more about this belief and he calls this energy or space "isness" - it just is!  It is actually very empowering to believe only in the power of self!

A couple of years ago a friend of mine was contemplating the meaning of life and very seriously asked her husband what he thought, his reply was "the cheese, it is all about the cheese".  He is a foodie and loves his cheese, so to him, that was quite simply what life was all about, enjoying the simple pleasures.  I found this liberating!  Yes, life is about fun and enjoyment!  The Dalai Lama communicated this for me as well.  No matter how screwed up things may seem, underneath it all, there are simple pleasures and the ability to have fun.

It certainly was a lot of fun listening to his talk!

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