I had to stay home and work this weekend, but Bryan and his sister worked at the Dalai Lama’s meeting with several religious scholars in San Francisco. I spent the morning writing, and walked over to meet them. The hotel lobby was filled with people in festive dress and a few long-haired guys in trance states. Bryan ushered me through security, and opened the ballroom door. And there, right in front of me, was the Dalai Lama. My life is weird.
The Dalai Lama
19th April 2006
Weird… and wonderful, too! A few years ago, my dad was a truck driver, and was responsible for the Dalai Lama’s porta-temple. Although he never met the man himself, he was pretty awed by the magic of the idea of the man. Might have changed him… at least for a little while.
Love the new look. Have a good vacation!
If by “weird” you mean “awesome,” then I agree. Maggie, I’m glad you’ve finally opened up comments. You rock. Hard, and consistently. All hail the Rocking Power of Maggie.
nice life and lucky you. i ran into him at a gompa in johannesburg, the day after a month’s silent retreat. turned a corner and there he was :)
it was great.
Not weird… blessed.
Weird? Yeah, maybe a little. But how many people can say that they ran into the Dalai Lama? SUPER cool.
That’s awesome. Did you have the uncontrolable urge to call him “Mr. Lama?”
Meh, he’s probably heard that one anyway.
I’d say not so much weird as incredibly fantastic. That sounds like a very cool experience.
I once had that same exact experience, only it was Jerry Springer at the airport in Memphis.
You lead a truly gifted and esoteric life, one which many of us endeavor to attain, yet may never achieve. You are successful, seem to have a job you love to do, and have moments like these. It is these such aesthetic moments that we live for. Now, if he hit on Bryan, that would be weird…
Did you say “Hello, Dalai?”
I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about this! Wow. How superfreaky cool!
Although I never got the chance to meet him, he was here in Alaska. One of my clients got to meet him, and Dalai blessed and named her unborn baby. I was really surprised when I had heard about that, but it was so cool.
Cool. I love how he’s actually accessible.
He spoke at Berkeley about 8 yrs ago. I was in finals and missed it.
But my friends went, and when asked how he was, everyone of them said:
“Happy.”
Must be nice.
Wow. Dig the new look. Very well done.
There are people like yourselves fortunate enough to come face to face with prominent figures, especially the Dalai Lama, of all people. My heart flutters with the thought itself.
5 year loyal reader. Loving the blogs now more than ever…
Wow, just Wow!
Where are you going on vacation??
He’s a sweet guy. My encounter with him:
http://smithmag.us/2005/10/16/15-minutes-the-dalai-lama/
I find it kind of strange that he’s on tour. I know he’s supposed to speak at the University of Texas in September. But it’s cool that you saw him, of course.
But you know what’s even weirder? How the colors of the curtains behind him match your new blog header. They were cut from the same color palette. Coincidence or DESTINY?
I love your website. No, you don’t understand, I mean, I LOVE your website. Perhaps if you have time could you tell us more about your encounter with the Dalai Lama? Thanks! Keep up the great writing…
Your life is weird?!? Imagine the Dalai Lama’s.
Here’s this quiet unassuming little Buddhist sitting in a hotel ballroom, minding his own business, when all of a sudden Maggie “Mighty Girl” Mason is standing right in front of him. Moments that have caused one to become enlightened have come from far less.
like at my old job when arianna huffington would call and ask to talk to larry. it was almost cool when bono’s ‘people’ called, but people’s ‘people’ kind of start to lose the weird and they slowly turn into regular people the farther out you go. but i happen to know from lee and joe that the dalai lama uses ‘mom’s stuff’ for his dry spots.
http://www.horseshoemountainpottery.com/momstuff.php
like the new design. it’s fun. yes.
I think if I was stuck with the Dalai Lama in a room for a very long time and no one else was around it might be hard to make conversation. I’m pretty sure I’d tell him the joke about him at the hotdog stand where he says “make me one with everything.” And then he’d probably tell me I have the Buddhist metaphysics all wrong or something and it would totally ruin the joke for me forever.
WoW! I miss reading you for a few days and look what you’ve done with the place, you added a nice splash of color, updated your picture, ADDED comments. I’ve been meaning to say for a while that I think you’ve got a great blog here. Very incisive and clever and all that pandering to one famous amoung dozens.
Must have been neato to see the Dalai Lama, though an interesting icon for you to meet.
It must have been a wonderful experience to set sight on such a great man. I am always in awe of such experiences.
Mighty Girl is so pretty! I like the new look.
yeah, well last week I met Fyvush Finkel. It was really surreal…. I’m not joking, he was staying at our hotel. We shared a moment.
http://www.wvah.com/programs/bostonpublic/fyvushfinkel.shtml
Holy Fcuk, the new look is amazing. I actually exclaimed aloud when I browsed by tonite. Holy Fcuk.