Buddhist spiritual leader the Dalai Lama returns to South Florida, on Saturday, for five days of public talks and religious teachings.
BY ALEXANDRA ALTER
When a friend asked about his plans for the coming week, John Sherrill shot back: “I’m having lunch with God.”
Sherrill, a cabinet maker who lives in Miami Beach, is among thousands of South Floridians angling to see Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, who kicks off five days of public talks and religious teachings in Miami-Dade and Broward counties on Saturday.
”Basically, I’m going to see the Dalai Lama because he’s the Dalai Lama,” said Sherrill, 50, a Buddhist since 1978. “It’s a chance to meet a divine being.”
The Dalai Lama, who last visited South Florida in 1999, is the exiled monarch of Tibet, a Buddhist monk, a Nobel laureate and an international spiritual leader who has attracted devotees such as actor Richard Gere and the rap trio Beastie Boys. They and others see the Dalai Lama as a spiritual leader who preaches peace through compassion, an appealing message in an unstable world.
”He’s a symbol of persistence and compassion to me,” said the Rev. Annette Jones, pastor of St. John’s On The Lake First United Methodist Church in Miami Beach. She has a doctorate in Tibetan Buddhist philosophy and teaches Buddhist meditation at her church. “There’s a real sense of joy and optimism that reflects his deeply cultivated and enlightened mind.”
While he has always had a loyal circle of devotees, the Dalai Lama began attracting large crowds after he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for advocating nonviolent resistance to the Chinese occupation of Tibet, which has continued for more than 50 years.
MESSAGE WIDESPREAD
Since then, dozens of books and several Hollywood movies have featured him, the most acclaimed Kundun, directed by Martin Scorsese, and Seven Years in Tibet, starring Brad Pitt.
His message has resonated, too, in the post-9/11 period, with his emphasis on nonviolence and achieving world peace through compassion.
These elements have contributed to the rise of Buddhism in the West. Among the five million Buddhists in the United States, who are mostly of Asian descent, one million are Western converts, said Charles Prebish, professor of religious studies at Pennsylvania State University and coauthor of The Faces of Buddhism in America.
More than 1,000 Buddhist centers — including 41 in Florida — have been established nationwide, double the number from eight years ago.
Such progress owes much to the global influence of the 69-year-old Dalai Lama, who, unlike his predecessors, became an international religious icon when he fled Chinese-occupied Tibet in 1959 and exiled himself in India. From there, he began teaching Buddhism to Westerners.
”He’s just been so instrumental in getting the teachings of the Buddha out there in a way that Westerners can understand,” said Ani Karma Chotso, a resident of El Portal and Tibetan Buddhist nun for 18 years.
Thupten Jimpa, who has been the Dalai Lama’s translator since 1985, said his job is made easier by the Dalai Lama’s acumen for tailoring his message to his audience.
‘A GREAT SKILL’
“He has a great skill to make even the most difficult text accessible,” said Thupten, a former monk who will translate the Dalai Lama’s upcoming talks. “He’s able to relate to them in everyday life.”
Robert Miller, a Miami artist who is providing free lodging in his South Pointe penthouse for members of the Dalai Lama’s entourage, was attracted to his teachings on nonviolence.
“I became a Tibetan Buddhist in part because this little earth we live on can’t take this war situation,” he said, referring to America’s history in wars.
Alejandra Fernandez, 28, the manager of DQ bookstore in Coconut Grove and a Buddhist practitioner for six years, said she’s heartened by the Dalai Lama’s presence.
“I’m looking forward to being around someone who’s so full of light,” she said.
LOVE AND COMPASSION
Though the Dalai Lama’s message of compassion and nonviolence continues to attract converts, he has repeatedly discouraged conversion.
“He feels that people who already have a religion preferably should stay with their own religion and use techniques that might be appropriate to enhancing their own practice,” said Jeffrey Hopkins, a professor of Indo-Tibetan studies at the University of Virginia. He has co-authored several books with the Dalai Lama.
“The practice of love and compassion and the analysis of impermanence . . . all of these are potentially helpful for many, many persons.”
INSPIRATIONAL
To Jones and the members of her congregation who are going to hear the Dalai Lama speak on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, the Dalai Lama’s message serves as an inspiration to be better Christians.
“Folks in our congregation believe that following the Buddhist path and following Jesus are not incompatible,” Jones said.
‘The Buddhist practice of showing kindness to all living beings amplifies Jesus’ commandment that we love one another.”
