Shabbat Shalom

by Rabbi Jon Adland

May 14, 2010, Bamidbar (Numbers 1:1-4:20), 1 Sivan 5770

His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, gave a public talk at Conseco Fieldhouse this morning. He doesn't do these kinds of public talks very often, but he does come to central Indiana, mainly to Bloomington, where his late brother founded the Indiana Buddhist Center. This public talk was co-sponsored by the Indiana Buddhist community and the Interfaith Hunger Initiative on whose steering committee I sit as one of the co-founders.

Because hunger is one of the Dalai Lama's great concerns, especially for the hungry children of the world, the Dalai Lama supported sharing the surplus of this event between the Buddhist community and IHI. The Interfaith Hunger Initiative was awarded more than $60,000 today from this event. One half will go the Gleaners Pantry Partner program and the other half to support the school lunch program in Eldoret in the Umoja Province of Kenya. At the cost of $18 per child, we can offer school lunch to another 1,666 children. Though the talk was wonderful and inspirational, the outcome of so many people coming to hear the Dalai Lama is even more amazing for those of us who try to work on behalf of those unable to feed themselves and their children.

The Dalai Lama knows he is just a human being like you and I, but his experiences have brought him deeper understanding to the world. He talked about wisdom and compassion and said that these attributes come to us through our own experiences, but that religion, any religion, can help make this world a better place.

Though the Dalai Lama is a very special person to the citizens of this world, sitting right across from him, in the second row, I also felt his humility despite being surrounded by security and adoring Buddhist supporters. He loves to laugh and give a wink of the eye. When he came into the room for a group picture, he just beamed and smiled at us. We were instructed not to say anything or even reach out a hand. He looked at us and said peace in a few different languages including Arabic and Hebrew. Then he reached out his hand to people near him and faced the camera, and the official photographers took pictures.

Subscribe to read more.