Dharamsala

Friday, June 3

Dharamshala

As good fortune would have it, our visit to Dharsmsala, the home of the Tibetan government in exile, has corresponded with His Holiness The Dalai Lama being in residence for some of the few days, amid his full schedule of global travels, that he will spend here this year At 9 am he is speaking in the auditorium of the Tibetan Children's Village, a residential middle and high school for Tibetan children.

We arrive at 6 am, well before any of the crowd now gathering.

Arriving in Dharamsala we quickly learned that tickets for the auditorium where His Holiness will speak are not available for foreigners but all are welcome to an outside arena where his talk will be projected. Now in this gathering throng there is heightening energy as we watch the preparations unfold.

Arriving in this hill village yesterday afternoon was like being beamed out of India and dropped into western China, within a green and mountainous Colorado landscape. This place is sheer tranquility after the crowded brown landscapes of the past two weeks. The narrow street of the village is bustling with Tibetan refugees. Crimson robed monks glide among us, hands busy with prayer beads. From our hotel, across the street from the temple, the low tones of Buddhist chants waft our way. Our culinary options suddenly include Chinese and a smattering of coffee shops and even some Italian to satisfy the wider ethnicities drawn to this place. We are no longer the only westerners in sight.

At 8:30am we are in a crowd lining the walk where His Holiness will pass. In front of us stand twenty girls in traditional Tibetan costume. Spot on time at 8:45 an entourage of cars whisks into view, passing beneath the banner of red, green, white and blue prayer flags. At the base of the concrete steps leading to the auditorium, today adorned with a red carpet, one vehicle stops, the Tibetan girls break into etheral song, robed men kneel to receive a blessing, and past us moves a familiar face, glowing serenely at the crowd.

I was left tearful from that powerful presence. The wise and graceful guidance of this spiritual leader for a people in exile transcends the walls of religion. His message of peaceful co-existence has impacted countless persons around the world. Still, the complexities of the Tibetan situation persist. So, I sit in a town in India populated with ethnic Tibetans who dream of going home.