I was thrilled to learn that the Dalai Lama, whom I have long admired, was fascinated with skiing and adventurous enough to hop on a ski lift–without bar–to watch it in live on the slopes of Santa Fe. Not only that, he was exuberant! In all my years of living in Aspen, I can’t remember seeing anyone laughing hysterically after getting knocked down by 4 people getting off a chairlift. Leave it to the Dalai Lama to then observe, “At ski area, you keep eye open always!”
The other snippet from Douglas Preston’s engaging Slate article, that made me marvel was the Dalai Lama’s direct response to a question posed après ski, “What is the meaning of life?” The Dalai Lama answered immediately. “The meaning of life is happiness.” He raised his finger, leaning forward, focusing on her (the waitress who posed the existential question) as if she were the only person in the world. “Hard question is not, ‘What is meaning of life?’ That is easy question to answer! No, hard question is what make happiness. Money? Big house? Accomplishment? Friends? Or …” He paused. “Compassion and good heart? This is question all human beings must try to answer: What make true happiness?”
Clearly, the Dalai Lama has found true happiness.
For those of you who want to read the full article, here is the link:
