He stays at the Royal York. He has his own chef. What else do you want to know?
By MICHAEL VALPY
Toronto has provided a special kind of enlightenment for Tenzin Samten, the Dalai Lama’s chef. At the National Trade Centre, where the Tibetan Buddhist leader is conducting spiritual teachings, Mr. Samten had his first encounter with an induction stove.
The magnetic-field cooker delighted him and other members of the Dalai Lama’s staff. They all gathered around to experiment with it, putting their hands on the cool surface after watching food heat quickly in a pot.
That small excitement apart, the Dalai Lama’s 11-day stay in Toronto has been unfolding with well-practised, unruffled orderliness.
He stays in the royal suite at the downtown Royal York Hotel — two bedrooms, a living room and dining room. The Dalai Lama sleeps in one bedroom; his two personal assistants share the other.
Neither the hotel nor visit organizers will talk about cost (which the local Tibetan community pays), but the hotel apparently offered an attractive rate. It is the third time the Dalai Lama has stayed at the Royal York.
There is a kitchen on the same floor as the suite, which the hotel turned over to Chef Samten, who is part of the Dalai Lama’s household staff in Dharamsala, India.
The Dalai Lama normally does not travel with a chef, but the organizers of his Toronto visit suggested that it was a good idea because of the length of time he would be in the city.
Mr. Samten has been assisted by 75-year-old Sherap Khangsar of Montreal, a resident of Canada since 1971, who cooked for the Dalai Lama during his Ottawa visit last week and during his visits to Ottawa and Montreal in 1980, 1990 and 1993.
In addition to the chef and two personal assistants, the entourage from Dharamsala includes a religious assistant, the Dalai Lama’s private secretary, several security agents, a monk-translator and the Dalai Lama’s brother, Tenzin Choegyal.
(The reason so many Tibetan men are called Tenzin is because it’s customary to ask a senior Lama for permission to use his name for a child. The Dalai Lama’s name is Tenzin Gyatso.)
The Dalai Lama rises at 3:30 a.m. and begins spiritual devotions. Mr. Samten serves him his breakfast at 5 a.m. — usually tea and tsampa, a porridge made with barley.
More spiritual exercises follow breakfast until, at 6:45 a.m., he leaves the hotel to travel to the National Trade Centre at Exhibition Place. The RCMP provide the car he travels in and two escort vehicles. Toronto police provide security at the trade centre.
At 7 a.m., he begins the day’s rituals and teachings for the Buddhist initiation rite known as the Kalachakra (Wheel of Time). When he speaks to the audience — about 2,000 people have been in attendance this week — he sits on a brocade throne and wears a billed cap to shield his eyes from the lights.
Lunch is his major meal of the day. He usually eats with his brother in a small private room. A favourite meal is gyakho, a kind of Tibetan fondue. He eats meat.
He continues teachings through the afternoon, returns to the hotel between 4 and 5 p.m., has a very light supper, either holds meetings or does more spiritual devotions, and goes to bed at 8:30 p.m.
Virtually all requests for private audiences have been turned down.
Tenzin Dargyl of the Montreal-based Canada Tibet Committee, the son of Sherap Khangsar and one of the organizers of the Ottawa visit, says the Dalai Lama is easy to look after.
“He’s a very simple person, very easy going. I think if you brought him something from McDonald’s it would be okay.”
