Yoda visits Brisbane

..and we went to see him. Well, he might as well be the real-life Yoda - old, wise, friendly, amusing, powerful. I'm talking about the Dalai Lama, who stopped in Brisbane to give a talk at the convention centre (which is where we saw Eric Clapton).



He's really quite something, the Dalai Lama. Any person who has spent their entire life studying and meditating is worth listening to, and on top of that he's had a good deal of both good and bad personal experience, travel, meeting important and interesting people and writing a couple of books. It all adds up to a worthwhile hour having a listen to what he's got to say while he's in town. It was entirely unreligious, and extremely informal. His topic was kindness and compassion, which he said where vitally important human values to be encouraged. Some of the points he made that made me think a bit were:

* I've met George Bush, and actually he's a nice man
* when I hear sad things it goes in one ear, then soon it goes out the other ear
* when you hear sad things. it should be like the waves on the surface of the sea - below the surface, all is calm
* it's possible to oppose an act, but forgive the person who carried out the act through compassion for that person's well-being.
* before external disarmament, there must be internal disarmament
* this century has started very well, and it's up to the next generation to really see it through (he mentioned that nuclear threats of the last century are largely defused, which is a huge step forward)

Those points might sound a little unusual as paraphrased by me and taken out of context of the talk, but you'll have to take my word for it when I say that his perspective was refreshing and inspiring.