Monday, October 22, 2007

Dalai Lama Style

You can just feel the excitement in the air with the Dalai Lama's visit to Atlanta. Through an initiative with Emory University, His Holiness spent three days in the city. After a one day conference on Saturday and an interfaith summit on Sunday, the Dalai Lama culminated his visit with a free public talk at Centennial Olympic Park today.

Check out Decatur Metro for a summary of the local press coverage.


Unable to attend the talk at Centennial Park, I decided to do the next best thing: honor the Dalai Lama with style. As the popularity of Tibetan Buddhism has grown in the U.S. so has the number of Tibetan import stores, which means Americans basically have unlimited access to Tibetan incense and Buddhist prayer flags. I admit that when I was in high school I jumped on the Buddhism-lite, spirituality fad and came away with a small collection of Dalai Lama books and prayer beads:


Although my interest in Buddhism has waned since then (mostly due to laziness), I still respect the Dalai Lama's openness to other cultures, religions and scientific thought. So in honor of his visit I wore my scarf that I purchased a few months ago at a Tibetan shop in Asheville. It was actually made in Nepal, but I figure it's close enough. I mean, if Tibet is the "roof of the world," then surely Nepal is the attic - or an eave of the world...

Another sign of my materialistic semi-devotion to all things Tibetan, are the mini prayer flags hanging in my loft.

So here's to you, Tenzin Gyatso (His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama)!

5 comments:

Lynn said...

The closest I got to Tibet was watching the movie which starred Brad Pitt - Seven Years in Tibet. Wonderful cinematography, and Brad was his usual superb. I admire Dalai Lama as a kid, and even more as a leader living in hostile. True courage and personality.

Vintage Bunny said...

I have a few Nepali knick knacks!Nepal was a great shopping destination
Ps:My email i.d is frasypoo@hotmail.com

Anonymous said...

My boyfriend is very close to buddhism and oriental spirituality... so i´m kind of close too.
I´m appeal to all this world. It´s so diferent from occidental culture.

and the scarf is beautiful!

Emma said...

Absolutely genius post. LOVE this blog.

AsianCajuns said...

Lynn, we use to watch 7 Years in Tibet all the time!
Vintage Bunny, A trip to Nepal - I'm so jealous!
Key, you're so right. I think one of the reasons I'm so drawn to it is because it's almost the exact opposite of our culture.
Thanks Emma!