Imbolc New (Hare) Moon
Up very early (for me) for a drive in to the Minneapolis Convention Center. Had to be there by 8 am. To get in line. For a speech that began at 10. Somebody famous, eh? You betcha. His Holiness the Dali Lama.
Frank Broderick got several tickets for his birthday and distributed them according to Frank criteria. I was in the second tier, but benefited from someone else’s not taking him up on the offer.
Two lines, each with hundreds of people in them snaked back and forth, distended caricatures of a pleasant day at your local international airport. After waiting in line for forty-five minutes to an hour, we went through the metal detectors and entered the auditorium. With no one ever checking our tickets.
This was the opening of a Norwegian slanted Noble Peace Prize forum, apparently in its 26th year. Who knew? The forum celebrates laureates and the Dali Lama, being one, was chosen for the keynote opening address.
This auditorium, A, is huge with hundreds, if not thousands of seats and the orchestra level seats were full and much of the tiered seating was full, too. This guy is charismatic, has a sort of rock star appeal.
He’s funny. At least I think so. He had several lines in his opening remarks where he laughed. But the acoustics were difficult and he speaks softly so following the thread of his talk proved beyond this hearing impaired guy.
I did get one part. He talked about his love of honey. “I might,” he said, lifting one hand and creating a small gap with thumb and index finger, “come back as a bee, I like honey so much.” He made these remarks because he apparently had a physical while here and was told as a precautionary measure to cut back on sweet things. Including honey.
He was easier to understand when he sat and took questions, fielded by Cathy Wurzer of NPR. The answer I liked best was, when asked if he would give the gathering his blessing, he hesitated. “I’m Buddhist. The blessing comes from within.”
