By ROSA CIRIANNI
PISCATAWAY, N.J. September 24 – Michael Meade traveled all the way from Ireland in hopes of getting a firsthand glimpse of one of the world’s foremost spiritual leaders.
Meade will be one of about 36,000 people who will attend the Dalai Lama’s sold-out lecture Sunday at Rutgers University Stadium in what is expected to be the largest non-athletic event in the university’s nearly 230-year history.
Although Meade is a non-practicing Catholic and does not follow the Dalai Lama’s religion of Buddhism, he said he still considers himself spiritual.
“It seems to me that there is a great deal in Buddhism that is available to all of us,” he said.
Sunday’s crowd could be one of the largest ever at Rutgers Stadium. The most people to see a football game at the stadium was 42,612 against Michigan State last year, and there have been only three crowds of more than 40,000 in Rutgers football history, according to the Rutgers football media guide.
“(People) were so crazed yesterday,” said Rutgers spokeswoman Nicole Pride. “A lot of people were in lines around the corner at the Louis Brown Athletic Center” in Piscataway.
Pride said people from Hong Kong have called about the event and others from places like Canada and Michigan will be traveling in busloads to hear the Tibetan head of state. He is scheduled to give a 45-minute lecture on “Peace, War and Reconciliation.”
“If that’s the case, I think that’s a pretty topical subject for all of us right now,” said Meade, who referred to the strife his own country has faced.
The Dalai Lama’s fall tour has included a stop in Idaho on the fourth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He urged the victims from that catastrophe and from Hurricane Katrina to turn their tragedies into something that makes them stronger.
“Your sadness, your anger will not solve the problem,” the 70-year old monk told a crowd of about 10,000. “More sadness, more frustration only brings more suffering for yourself.”
The Dalai Lama, often referred to as His Holiness, also made stops in Arizona and New York, and he plans to lecture in California and Washington, D.C.
He is best known for advocating peace in dealing with political conflict. The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 following an aborted uprising against Chinese rule in the territory and now keeps an office in exile in India.
Dalai Lama means “Ocean of Wisdom” in Mongolian, and the men in that position are considered enlightened human beings who have postponed their own Nirvana and chosen to serve humanity, according to the Office of Tibet in New York, the official agency and government in exile in the Americas.
Traffic for the event is expected to build on the New Jersey Turnpike near Exit 9 in East Brunswick, and immediately surrounding the stadium near River Road, Hoes Lane, and Route 18 and Route 287.
Doors open at 6:30 a.m., the program begins at 8:30 a.m. and no admission to the stadium will be permitted after 10 a.m., according to the university.
The Dalai Lama will speak at 10:30 a.m.
The university will provide free shuttle buses, beginning at 6:15 a.m., between the Busch, Livingston, and College Avenue parking lots and the stadium.
On the Net: www.president.rutgers.edu/dalailama
