Monks from Thubten Dhargye Ling center in Long Beach try to catch a glimpse of the Dalai Lama when he arrives at UC Santa Barbara.

‘This crisis is good,’ Tibetan leader says, because it reminds people that money has limitations. He also speaks about arcane aspects of Buddhist history and philosophy.

Reporting from Santa Barbara — The Dalai Lama, in a ringing denunciation, declared Friday that the ailing global economy is the result of “too much greed, and lies and hypocrisy.”

“These are some of the factors behind the global crisis,” he said at a news conference at UC Santa Barbara. “Those people who feel that money is the most important thing in life, when economic crisis hits, learn that it is only one way to be happy. There is also family, friends and peace of mind.”

“Therefore, this crisis is good,” he added with a laugh, “because it reminds people who only want to see money grow and grow that there are limitations.”

The Dalai Lama’s remarks followed the first of two sold-out public lectures in the university events center Friday on “the nature of mind.” That discourse, delivered from an ornate wooden couch with ocher robes draped over his bony shoulders and with his legs folded beneath him, drew an audience of 4,800 people.

Tickets, which had sold out within two hours, ranged in price from $20 to $40. Scalpers fetched up to $600 per ticket, university officials said.

In his characteristic self-effacing manner, the 74-year-old leader of Tibet’s government-in-exile began by apologizing for a serious cold that had him frequently pausing to clear his throat or blow his nose. Midway through the talk, he began speaking for up to 15 minutes at a stretch in Tibetan about arcane aspects of Buddhist history and philosophy, leaving his assistant to translate for fans. Advanced students of Buddhist philosophy leaned forward in their seats, hanging on every word. Many others, however, began fidgeting or heading off to the restrooms. Some people snoozed.

Joyce Tapper, 74, of Van Nuys took it all in stride.

“It’s amazing that he pushes ahead despite little things like a cold and big things like the condition of his homeland,” she said. “Just being in the room with him lifted me to a higher place, even if I didn’t get it.”

Then there was Melanie Strickland, 48, a substitute teacher from the Joshua Tree area. Moments after the Dalai Lama left the stage, she was reciting large portions of the teachings — nearly verbatim — over her cellphone to a friend.

“The key is to rise above thoughts of pain and anger,” she told her friend, “and focus on the here and now between those thoughts. See?”

It was the Dalai Lama’s fourth visit to this prosperous seaside community, which prepared for his appearance with four weeks of social gatherings, public talks by local scholars and Buddhist-oriented art exhibits, including an elaborate sand mandala under construction by 10 monks. On Friday night, the California-based Global Institute for Tibetan Medicine hosted a reception in honor of Gyalo Thondup, older brother of the Dalai Lama.

UC Santa Barbara became a leading center of Buddhist and Tibetan studies after the Dalai Lama’s first visit there in 1984. He was invited to return this week by Jose Cabezon, the first occupant of the university’s XIV Dalai Lama chair in Tibetan studies.

The invitation was made “quite a while ago because the Dalai Lama books his appearances about seven years in advance,” Cabezon said. “Finally, our number came up and he flew here direct from his headquarters in India.”

“We are institution unusual in its support and admiration for the Dalai Lama,” said Eva Haller, a longtime trustee of the UC Santa Barbara Foundation. “He knows that, and feels at home here.”

louis.sahagun@latimes.com
By Louis Sahagun
April 25, 2009

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We have had an incredible time here in Edinboro. Our precious organizer was Joanne Rowcan of the Unity in Edinboro church. This is the second time they have hosted the monks and we plan one making it a fixture on the tour. 

Friday night we did the Chay Drol ritual. This is a tantric ritual in which the Lama, in the form of Tara, binds the participants negativities and obstacles to five colors of yarn which is tied around then. Then the Lama severs these obstacles, removing them from the participants and sealing them with protective rays of light. We had a large turnout and even got to meet one of the main participants in the film that we showing on the tour, Dalai Lama Renaissance. I just looked up and there he was in the audience.  We had a little visit and it turns out that even though he has a significant role in the film, he has not been able to see it yet. Hopefully he will make it to Slippery Rock where we will screening the film on Monday night.

Saturday night Venerable Geshe Norbu gave a talk on World Peace and the Unity of all Religions and on Sunday we close with the very special Dukar Empowerment. This is an extremely powerful protective diety that cleanses away the conditions that would allow any negative karma to arise.  It also was well attended and we met so many wonderful people (as usual). Diane thank you for that delicous apple sauce =). Thank you all for your kindness and generosity.

We also need to give a special thanks to Annette for opening up her home to us while she was away. We had the run of the place to ourselves and even got caught up on our practice – woo hoo!

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Somehow we still managed to conduct a healing and two Dharma talks. One in the little town of Medina at Rx Yoga and one at a meditation retreat led by Venerable Ani Palmo Rybicki. She was leading a three day Vispassana meditation retreat and had Venerable Geshe Norbu give a talk on the benefits of meditation. She is wonderful and so were her students. They all had great questions and were radiating from their retreat.

Since so many were interested I will post the radio documentary that the Tibet Connection recently replayed on their program about my journey to become a monk. Here is the link – The Tibet Connection. Just click on the “Feature Documentary.”

You can see our current schedule by clicking this link – Tour Schedule

October 5th – Sunday was a busy day for us. First Venerable Geshe Norbu gave a talk at the Jewel Heart Dharma Center in Cleveland on the Four Noble Truths, then we made a mad dash out to the beautiful town of Ashtaubula to give a talk on Creating Happiness in your Life. The wonderful people at Ashtabula’s Wellness Center organized our visit and it was hosted by the kind people at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church. The church has a lot of history, if you get a chance check out the parish history on their website. Father David opened his church up to us for free. Susan, Andy, and Grace from the Wellness Center brought a large, very engaged crowd and Rodger and his daughter made sure everything ran smoothly. We really loved our visit their and are grateful for all their kindness.

October 7th – Tuesday night we did a cultural presentation at the Grand River Academy. The academy is a boys boarding school with students from all over the world. Established in 1831, it also has a great history and beautiful grounds. It was great for me to be at a high school again, reminiscing about my students back in Long Beach. We had dinner with them and they were all so interested it was great. They had so many questions we could have talked all night.

October 8th – Wednesday was a very special treat for us. We were invited over to dinner at Chunden’s house. She is a local tibet and one of the first voices for Radio Free Tibet. It is always a special treat for the monks to have Tibetan cooking and company. The Tibetans are incredibly polite and generous and take great care of their guests. This means lots, and I mean lots, of food. They just keep bringing it against all of your protests. Again another late night with good friends and good food =).

October 9th – Thursday night we were back at Jewel Heart to do Tsog and a talk on the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination. The place filled with a lot of great energy and Venerable Geshe Norbu gave an amazing talk. There was great buzz filling the space and everyone kept visiting long after the talk. As it was getting very late, we finally piled back into the van and headed back home.

October 11th – Saturday we hosted by the very kind and talented artist, Beth Wolfe, and the curators of the Asterisk Gallery. There was great turnout for our Chay Droy ritual – one in which the Lama, in the form of Tara, removes and purifies obstacles from people’s lives. The current exhibit deals with the last eight years in the USA and featured art as political dissent. So the energy in the room was initially pretty intense and provocative. However, during the ritual, Ven. Geshe Norbu transformed the space, the people, and all the collective energy into a healing, purified, and wonderful clear space. It was great and we met so many really kind, thoughtful people. Among them was Ren, a very gentle spirit with an incredible talent for photography. He was kind enough to email me so photos and will post them in the gallery below.

October 12 -Tomorrow we are headed off to Westminster College in New Wilmington, PA. We finished off our visit today with two events. First we did a 21Tara Puja at RX Yoga where we had a nice little group. Then we went to the Unity Church of Greater Cleveland to do a demonstration and monastic debate, followed by a Dharma talk on karma. The debate session was great and very lively with Venerables Phuntsok and Yeshe taking on Ven. Geshe Kalsang. Venerable Geshe Norbu followed with a talk explaining Karma allowing a lot of time for questions and discussion. We really enjoyed our time there and want to extend a special thanks to Rudi, Vivian, and Reverend Joan for their kindness in opening up their church to us.

We also want to express our immeasurable gratitude to Bill and Susie for all their efforts, kindness and generosity in making our visit to the Cleveland possible. In the morning we are off to a new adventure in New Wilmington.

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This was our second visit to Yachats on this tour and we were thrilled to be back again so soon. Our precious organizers Ri and Renee put together a great schedule of events starting with a screening of the film Dalai Lama Renaissance. They received permission for us to show it from the producer/director Khashyar Darvich in order to help our monastery. Khashyar has been kind enough to let us continue to show it as we travel throughout the tour. Our main event was creating a sand mandala of the Buddha of Compassion at the Green Salmon. By the way, some of the best coffee in the world! He roasts it himself and people were driving from 40 miles away to get some. We also did a Medicine Buddha empowerment, Vajravidaran healing, a Chay Drol ritual, and a question and answer night. So we were kept pretty busy. In addition to all the kindness of Ri and Renee (by the way, they are also hosting this blog for us), Precious Claire came down to help us out and we meet a new organizer, Colette, who was brave enough to take up the task of bringing us to Moab. More on that in the Moab post later.

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