Beyond Extraordinary: His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Australia

By Ven. Robina Courtin

His Holiness the Dalai Lama visited Australia for two weeks in September at the invitation of Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche and the FPMT, mainly to confer, for the first time in the southern hemisphere, the elaborate Kalachakra initiation.

“Everything went unbelievably well,” said George Farley, Chairman of the National Executive of the Visit. “The Kalachakra initiation, the public talks, the media coverage, the fundraising – everything was beyond our expectations.”

At six in the morning of Thursday, September 19, His Holiness the Dalai Lama arrived at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney, where he would be teaching and giving the Kalachakra initiation during the next nine days.

A huge barn of a place, used more often than not for rock concerts, it had been transformed into a Tibetan gompa. A team of 100, overseen by Andrew Dickson, had worked throughout the night putting in the stunning multicolored classical altar, designed by Yvonne Gold, which formed the entire back wall of the stage. The gilded ornate mandala house, the throne, the thangkas, the lighting and sound, the huge television screen: everything was in place. The stage was set.

His Holiness came into the pavilion to begin his preparations. He stood there, in silence, taking it all in. “Beyond extraordinary!” he exclaimed, clearly delighted.

Indeed, “beyond extraordinary” could well describe the response of Australians to the Dalai Lama himself. They opened their hearts to him during this, his third visit to Australia, September 15-29. Some 60,000 people attended his talks, teachings and other events in Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney. He met with the Prime Minister John Howard and other politicians, with human rights activists and religious leaders. And millions nationwide connected with him through the media. Everyone seemed to know that he was in the country, and everyone seemed to like him, delighting in his humor, his laughter, his unconditional kindness and, most of all, perhaps, his utter down-to-earthness – a quality that Australians pride themselves on having in abundance. “His trip to Australia was a triumphant success,” said Peter Thompson, ABC Radio journalist.

“What I remember most,” said Kerry Martin, in charge of events in Melbourne, “was seeing how people were in his presence: they were crying, laughing, bending before him, giving him gifts, flowers; genuine outbursts of emotion. You could feel the amazing positivity around him. It was true love.”

Hundreds of people worked for a year to prepare for His Holiness’s two-week visit (see Special Mandala, September). From the beginning everything worked so well, smoothly and harmoniously. “At just the mention of the Dalai Lama’s name there was so much enthusiasm and excitement,” said Merryn Kennedy, chair of the Canberra events group. “The willingness of people to assist was overwhelming.” People were inspired: “I felt like my whole life had been leading up to this,” said Pauline McLoughlin, the chair of the Kalachakra working group, who before becoming involved was not a Buddhist.

And fundraising was successful beyond everyone’s expectations, making it possible to offer His Holiness A$750,000 ($600,000) – which he, in turn, offered to charitable organizations worldwide. (See article.)

“The media coverage was unbelievable,” said Linda Adelstein, who coordinated the media with Paul Bourke. “It was no comparison with anything I had ever done before. We have a stack of press cutting eight inches high. Every media outlet possible was involved – radio, television, national and regional newspapers, magazines – and it was nationwide. And the subjects ranged from the personal, to Tibet, Buddhism, other religions, business, politics, to wonderful cartoons.”

And the coverage was constant and high profile throughout the two weeks the Dalai Lama was in Australia and for weeks beforehand. The Sydney Morning Herald, for example, the main daily newspaper in Australia’s biggest city, calculated that during one week His Holiness’s was the second most mentioned name after that of John Howard, the country’s Prime Minister, and Tibet the fourth most mentioned topic.

His Holiness arrived from New Zealand on Sunday, September 15: his four-day visit there was also hugely successful (Diane Cadwallader reports in Jan-Feb Mandala). His first public event was at the Quang Minh Vietnamese Temple in Melbourne, where gale-force winds did not lessen the delight of the 10,000-strong crowd. “We love you!” some were heard to cry out.

He was given a standing ovation by 600 business people at a breakfast on Monday morning after a talk on Ethics and the Bottom Line. His Holiness told them that he was “not anti-business in China.” He said he was not seeking to confront or isolate China but to bring them into the mainstream. “It is much more skillful to deal with China in an open way,” he said. He also stressed that decisions in business in general should be made on the basis of compassion.

And 20,000 people filled the main stadium at Melbourne Park for the evening public talk. Five thousand heard him earlier in the day teach on the Essence of Buddhism.

At another gathering of prominent business people in Sydney a week later, Bob Hogg, the general manager of Amdahl Australia, second largest manufacturer of mainframe computer systems in the world, told His Holiness that everyone present was “deeply moved. What a tremendous honor and inspiration it is to have the Dalai Lama here.”

He spent Tuesdayand Wednesday in Canberra. His talk at the National Press Club to a gathering of 400 journalists was televised live throughout Australia, and was later telecast to parts of Asia. He was introduced by the High Court’s Justice Kirby, who is also the Chairman of the International Commission of Jurists. They talked privately later that evening.

His Holiness met with members of the Standing Committee for Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade, which included people of all political parties. “The discussions were very frank,” said Merryn Kennedy. He also had private meetings with the Leader of the Opposition and with Democratic senators and others, and he met with the Parliamentary Group for Tibet. In Parliament House, His Holiness gave a Chenrezig blessing in the Great Hall and later attended a reception in the Mural Hall.

“He was quite tired that night, but he stayed until he had greeted everyone. He thanked everyone for their work for Tibet,” said Democrat Senator Vicki Bourne, who chairs the Tibet group.

“Everybody he met in Parliament House had the same impression: his compassion, his wisdom … you couldn’t help but be affected by him. He treated everyone equally,” said Senator Bourne. “And he bowled everyone over with his charm!”

Among the scores of private meetings with His Holiness were meetings with the four Australian FPMT center geshes and with representatives of the centers. Ven. Kaye Miner of Tara Institute in Melbourne presented an overview of some of the work of the centers, including the social work activities such as prison visits, healing courses, hospices for the dying. “His Holiness was very pleased,” said Kaye.

“He said, ‘I really appreciate all your work. All the things that you mentioned are not just ideas, you are already committed to doing them. Actually this is my dream. A few years ago on a few occasions when meeting with Buddhist centers, I suggested ideas like these, and here you are already implementing them. I am very grateful.

“’I think the very purpose of Buddhist practice is not only self-liberation or just propagating Buddhadharma, but to actually help other people according to their circumstances, in whatever way we can contribute. Helping dying people, the hospices, for example, is really very good, very good.'”

The Kalachakra initiation was the main event, and His Holiness spent twelve days in Sydney. The Dalai Lama first gave this initiation in 1954 when he was nineteen. Since then he has conferred it twenty-three times, six of them in the West. Sydney’s initiation is the first His Holiness has given in the southern hemisphere.

Three thousand people attended the nine-day event, among them more people attending on a one-day basis.

A three-day Festival of Tibet was held in the forecourt of the Hordern Pavilion during the days of the preliminary teachings, a Himalayan marketplace of merchandise and food stalls and live performances. “We wanted people to put Kalachakra into some kind of cultural context,” said Liz Menzel, who organized the festival. “People were very happy, and the loved the live performances: Aboriginal, Indian and even a flamenco guitarist.”

The entire visit was remarkably well organized. In fact His Holiness himself commented on the excellence of the organization, “even down to the smallest details,” he said. Monks from his monastery, Namgyel, sixteen of whom accompanied him to Australia, also remarked to Dorji Dolma of the Australia Tibet Council that “this was without doubt the best ever Kalachakra.”

“Many many people have told me – through email, phone, letters, in person – that these were the most significant days of their life,” said George Farley.

His Holiness’s schedule was packed tight. He would rise at three in the morning and leave his hotel by five to spend the morning with his monks at the Hordern Pavilion doing preparatory pujas before the public events in the afternoon.

His Holiness gave preliminary teachings in the afternoon of the first three of the nine days, on Refuge, the Two Truths and the Four Noble Truths. His Holiness said he was glad everyone had come for the teachings, “even though many people think the initiation is more important.” Throughout could be heard the rhythmic tapping of the hand-held sand containers as the Namgyel monks made the elaborate Kalachakra mandala. On the fourth day the monks performed the ceremonial ritual dance and on the fifth the three-day actual initiation commenced.

“One of the things I really noticed was the quality of the audience’s attention, it was quite extraordinary, said George Farley. “His Holiness actually mentioned this: ‘Everyone really listened to the teachings,’ he said. There was very little movement in and out of the fall, and it was so quiet. People were so attentive, even though sometimes the sessions went on for four or five hours.”

Throughout the nine days a television crew of three relayed the activities onto a huge screen suspended from the ceiling, which was visible to most of the 3500-plus audience. The final day’s dissolution of the sand mandala into the Sydney Harbor was also able to be viewed by initiation participants on the screen at the Hordern Pavilion. “The screen was a big hit,” said George Farley.

A long-life puja – Lama Chöpa and tsog – was offered to His Holiness on Saturday, September 28. The tsog cake, a huge and stunning gold-domed multi-colored confection, needed four monks to carry it. Behind them three nuns – Vens. Yeshe Khadro, Tenzin Tsepel and Mei Yu – sang the exquisite offering prayer. A procession of people offered auspicious gifts in the traditional way. One gift that delighted him, said George, was “a 150-year-old, double action, English skeleton clock, in the shape of a gothic cathedral. ‘Does it work?’ His Holiness asked. ‘Is it old or new?’ He really looked at it!” Anita Keating, the wife of the former Labor Prime Minister of Australia, carried and offered the clock.

Towards the end of the puja, George Farley thanked the hundreds of people who had worked with dedication and enthusiasm to make His Holiness’s visit a reality. And Lama Zopa Rinpoche, in a brief talk, recalled how, at his first meeting with George, he “offered him a banana” and mentioned how good it would be if His Holiness could come to Australia.

People were moved to tears whilst singing, in English, the Dalai Lama’s long-life prayer, and by the lilting and deeply moving Words of Truth, composed by His Holiness himself, sung by a choir of twenty.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche had written a heartfelt Praise to His Holiness, which was read during the puja (see  “The Compassion Buddha is no other than Your Holiness”). “It is proven that you are the present living Compassionate-eyed Looking Buddha…there is no way that we can finish repaying your kindness even if we offer you the whole world filled with wish-fulfilling jewels for eons…With our palms together we pray again for you to guide us continuously in all our lifetimes until we achieve enlightenment and for our lives to be most beneficial for all sentient beings from now on, just like Your Holiness, the Compassion Buddha.”

It finished with the wish that this not be “the last visit by Your Holiness to Australia to bless and guide us in this way. We hope it happens many times in the future.” There is no doubt that the millions touched by His Holiness would have joined in that prayer.

Glenn Hayward, policeman

We were assigned as Close Personal protection, part of the Special Branch. Ten of us were on the Dalai Lama, but two of us were with him full time, Principal Protection Officers, me and Mark Porter. Basically, our job was to make sure he was okay, to ensure his safety was not threatened. We’d start at five in the morning. As soon as he was out of his room, we were there, and we’d be with him all the time; ride with him in the vehicle, to wherever he went, with him at the hotel. For twelve days it was like that.

Actually, I had the opportunity to take care of the Dalai Lama in ’92 as well. Then his trip to Sydney was much more low key. It was a lot different this time.

He was always very personal, always friendly. You could see the effect he had on people. It was good to be around him. He had a good outlook. He would start laughing, and you couldn’t help but like him.

There was an incident involving the motorcade driving to the hotel one day. A car nearly hit us, and we had to screech on our brakes. The Dalai Lama could see what was happening, but he was so cool and collected. He just burst out laughing!

He was a very happy person, and this would flow into the police. He’d always grab hold of you and start laughing. One time in the lift up to his room, he reached forward and tickled Mark under the chin!

It can be difficult in this job, quite intense, but we decided one night to try and stop sledging each other – see how long it lasts, we said. Well, it didn’t last for long!

He was always interested in what’s going on around him. For example, the football was on just near the Hordern Pavilion. He wanted to know what the game was, who won, like that.

Most of us found what he had to say, Buddhism, very interesting, fascinating. He gave us books. I’m reading his autobiography at the moment.

You could see the good effect he had on people, the media too, and how there is so much support for him, and how everyone likes him so much. Many people said to us that we were so lucky to be with him, so we started to think, “Jeez, maybe we are lucky.”

A few people said to us: You must have created such good karma in your past lives. We thought about that! We got on great with all the people, the volunteers, everyone around him.

At the end, the Dalai Lama looked at us really seriously and said, “I know what you’re feeling, thank you for your good heart. We are friends for life.”

Kerry Martin, organizer

What I remember most was seeing how people were in His Holiness’s presence: crying, laughing, bending before him, giving him gifts and flowers, genuine outbursts of emotion. You could feel the amazing positivity around him. It was true love. And it comes back to you. Overwhelming.

He did several things in Melbourne, including the public talk to 20,000 people at the Tennis Centre and a Business Breakfast at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in the city. I got personal handwritten letters, thanking us for organizing that; I have never received cards before. Six hundred business people gave His Holiness a standing ovation. The Dean of the Faculty of Business at Victoria University came to me after the breakfast and said, “What can I do? Would I be more useful on the political side or the religious?” He joined the board of Australia Tibet Council.

You could have heard a pin drop when His Holiness talked. People were absolutely in awe. There was total silence when he walked in and out, but as he left there was thunderous applause.

Three-year-old Keeley, the daughter of Wendy White, one of the Melbourne events committee, had been talking about the Dalai Lama for months before his arrival. She wanted to give him a present, so at the private audience she gave him some play dough and told him to “make something special with it.”

I feel just so privileged to have been involved, and I want to thank George Farley for allowing me to have this experience.

Carl Pavia, driver

It was a pretty amazing time for me, this whole experience with the Dalai Lama. For my partner too, because our first child was being born. I had dabbled a bit in Buddhism beforehand, but I wasn’t that into it.

It was quite an eye-opening experience: the Dalai Lama’s presence, what he had to say. His views on the world and the environment, his philosophy, were really good. He seemed to make a lot of sense, he was so down to earth.

The whole event in Sydney was pretty amazing; the sand mandala, everything. It was a real buzz to have the privilege to be able to walk around behind the scenes.

His personal secretary Tenzin Geyche-la required a watch to be fixed one day. First I said, maybe we could fix it ourselves, then he brought out this watch, and it turned out to be the Dalai Lama’s. So there we were in a suburban street getting the Dalai Lama’s watch fixed! That was probably the unique thing that happened to me.

Our child was born on the last day of His Holiness’s visit. The Monday morning that he left, I got him to bless a little cross for our child. Just above the bed there is this khata that we got, and this cross. I reckon our child is blessed. It was an amazing couple of weeks.

Senator Vicki Bourne, politician

Everybody the Dalai Lama met in Parliament House in Canberra had the same impression: his compassion, his wisdom, his charm. You couldn’t help but be affected by him. He treated everyone equally: the way he answered questions at the Press Club, the way he greeted people.

The effect he had on the audience at the enormous auditorium at his public talk was absolutely electric.

In Parliament House he had some private meetings with the Leader of Opposition and with Democratic senators and others; he had a meeting with the Parliamentary Committee for Tibet. And there was a parliamentary reception in the Mural Hall to which a lot of MPs came. He was quite tired that night, but he stayed until he had greeted everyone. He spoke, and he thanked everyone for their work for Tibet.

The honesty of the Dalai Lama’s approach – he is so uniformly good – is very obvious. And he has such a way about him: be bowled people over with his charm! I think having him here helped a million percent for human rights and Tibet.

Yvonne Gold, designer and songwriter

When His Holiness first saw the gompa in the Hordern Pavilion he said, “Beyond extraordinary!” Actually, at first Chhime Rigzing, who translated, said, “Beyond fabulous!” But then he said, “‘Fabulous’ isn’t exactly right. ‘Gone beyond extraordinary’ is best.” His Holiness was absolutely happy with it. So inspired by it.

A year ago I was asked to do the design. What an honor, I felt. I wanted people to walk in and feel like they’ve walked into a gompa. A few fantasies weren’t fulfilled. I wanted to a pond with lotuses too, but it wasn’t lotus season.

I took the essential elements of gompas I’d seen in Tibet. I wanted to get the overall feeling, the beauty of the perfection of that sacred architecture. I tried to bridge the fine line between not being too theatrical and having it look real; but it had to be big and impressive enough.

Easily seventy people worked on it. We had a warehouse just near the Pavilion where we worked for months beforehand. And some things were made in Melbourne, the throne and mandala house in Queensland; brocade was bought in Nepal.

As for Mantra Mix, the CD we did to raise funds for the visit: I wrote the title track two years ago, in retreat. I thought it would be nice to have a tune to bop to. So I said to Tim Finn, ‘Let’s do it.’ By the time of the Kalachakra initiation 9000 copies of the CD had already been sold. The single came out early October, with the Maori rapper Kai, and Tim.

Peter Thompson, ABC radio journalist

In my experience of interviewing people, world leaders in their field, what struck me about the Dalai Lama was his wonderful lack of ego. It was really noticeable. Pretty much everyone else who is highly prominent is, as one judge put it, overly self-assured. I thought the Dalai Lama was charmingly free of that vice.

His trip to Australia was a triumphant success. But I would add one thing: he was probably too soft on the Australian authorities over the handling of the Chinese objections. The government was clumsy at best. In my opinion the Dalai Lama could have been tougher.

Why is he so successful? I am fascinated with how communication works; I think about this a lot. I think his great success can be attributed to the simplicity of his message: non-dogmatic and contemporary. And of course his great good humor: he takes himself lightly. He is a masterful communicator.

George Farley, organizer

I was very pleased with the way everything went. At the Kalachakra initiation, I was struck by how well all the thousands of bits and pieces came together so well: the ushering, lighting, handling of difficulties, getting people to their seats in a short time, getting settled. It all worked so well, I think, because of the attitude of the people who were working. Of course, there was lots of planning, lots of meetings, but everyone’s attitude was so good: “What can I do to help? How well can I do it?”

Pretty early on, even before His Holiness arrived, people came to understand they were taking part in something special that was really going to happen, and they wanted to make it work well. You could see that a relatively small amount of time was spent dealing internally; most of the energy was spent externally, towards the customer, and it happened with relative ease. And everyone working appeared to be having a really fantastic time: they wanted to be there, wanted to be doing it.

Actually, many many people have told me – through email, phone, letters, in person – that these were the most significant days of their life.

The turnout at Kalachakra exceeded our expectations. One of the things I really noticed was the quality of the audience’s attention, it was quite extraordinary. His Holiness actually mentioned this: ‘Everyone really listened to the teachings,’ he said. There was very little movement in and out of the hall, and it was so quiet. People were so attentive, even though sometimes the sessions went on for four or five hours.

From the organization side, what really helped things work well was that we made sure we had the money to do it. Although we had encouraged everyone to keep an eye on the budge, if something would help get the job done, we’d get it. “Want a mobile phone? Please, have one.” We wanted people to do their best.

And of course the money came from the incredible generosity of our sponsors, benefactors, friends, Kalachakra ticket holders and thousands of donors.

Also what helped everything work so well as that we had very good mechanisms in place for reaching decisions, extremely good communication: mobile phones, emails, face to face.

Because it was the FPMT who invited His Holiness, Lama Zopa Rinpoche was the inspiration behind the visit. We in the national Executive, who were all students of Rinpoche, knew that we could go to him if there were problems, but we rarely needed to. But Rinpoche was always there, the inspiration.

Sandy Grant, security coordinator

Police in NSW took on the task of personal security for His Holiness, ensuring that the venues were safe, that people kept distance. There were police from Special Branch, whose primary role is to ensure safety of visiting dignitaries. And three motorcycle police were assigned, to protect the motorcade. We had assistance from Road Transport Authority, who ensured that traffic lights were green all the way; the motorcycle police formed a screen for the cars, ensuring they got through and passed traffic jams. On average, it took us seven minutes rather than twenty to get to the Hordern Pavilion. It was not a State visit, but the difference would have been a couple of extra police and state uniforms.

The police spent twelve days with His Holiness, and I couldn’t help but notice the effect he had on each of them individually. They became very interested in who he actually was and they started to pick up some of the philosophy. Each day they would quote passages from books, which they’d bought or His Holiness had given them. One day at the ceremony at the Hordern Pavilion, for example, the traffic police, in their breeches, wanted to come in and have a look.

You could see they were deeply moved by His Holiness, and many of them were visibly changed as a result of working with him. I was personally influenced by his presence. He has an innate ability to bring you down to a very basic level in his presence, childlike. When he smiles and offers his hand, he touches a part of you and makes you very humble. I was really quite sad when he left. There were tears in many eyes, of the police too.

Linda Adelstein, media organizer

Media-wise, the visit was just no comparison with anything I’ve ever done before, in terms of interest, in terms of the coverage, in terms of spread of media: from Northern Territory Radio to the Illawarra Courier to papers in Western Australia. The clippings are overwhelming – they fill an eight-inch high box.

Just about every radio, newspaper, magazine, every media outlet possible ran something on His Holiness or Tibet, ranging in subject from the personal, Buddhism, to wonderful cartoons.

Inevitably there were quite a few changes in the schedule, and under normal circumstances people would resist. But this time they had faith in why it happened, for some reason, and every time there were changes, they ended up always being for the better.

The huge response from the public, from the media, from politicians, all the groups, was very spontaneous and natural. People would try to understand how His Holiness produced this influence on people. When I finally was in the room with him, was in his presence, it seemed to me that His Holiness makes people feel better about themselves. Usually we’re not allowed to express certain things, to come to our potential; there are a lot of negatives that don’t allow us to feel good.

There were at least 3500 people at the initiation every day, for hours; and they sat there through it all. It wasn’t just intellectual; it was at the heart level.

With His Holiness, people either felt very inspired – “I want to be kinder; I want to be happier” – or were totally shocked, blown away.

Mandy Lamkin, organizer

The first thing that comes to my mind about His Holiness is his enormous resolve, this strong, powerful constitution that he emanates, and the power of his talks, where compassion and dialogue are the only relevant workable choices, now and in the future. The feeling really came through. Can he maintain this? He did. The Sydney talk, everywhere. Incredible.

Another thing that stands out is the way he related to aged people, the way he honored them, exposed within us the way we don’t honor them.

Everyone was so touched. At the end of the meeting with business people in Sydney, the sponsor at the end said that His Holiness “concentrated on compassion. He was supposed to talk about leadership, but his constant message was that you should incorporate compassion into business and make your decision on that basis.”

I remember that the Southeast Asian managing director of Volvo, who lived and worked in Thailand, said that of course he uses Buddhist principles in his dealings. “It takes longer but it’s more effective.”

His Holiness said he was happy with everything. We felt we had done the best job that we could. It was his journey; we just prepared the ground. I feel it was the happiest and most meaningful time of my life.

Philip Cawthan, driver

Into my life walked a man called Sandy Grant. He asked me to drive one of the cars in His Holiness’s entourage. “You don’t know me, why ask me?” I said. The universe does wonderful things.

So for thirteen days I was driving one of the cars. Just magic. I remember, in the Pavilion, His Holiness would get there no later than 6 AM; he’d commence clearing the negative energy and building up the good energy. For two to three hours I would sit there in his presence; it was a cleansing of my own life. And you could see how he would shift the energy within people.

When he spoke at the University of NSW, he became so beautiful. He stood up and spoke to the students, not down to them, but one with them. And not once in the twelve days – with the Prime Minister, the NSW Premier, the dignitaries – never once did he put China down.

He really moved people. At the end of the tour when we were saying goodbye at the airport, we offered khatas, he blessed us, we had photos taken. There were the motorcycle police, big tough cops, and two of them were crying.

It was the greatest experience I have ever had. Anything I can to do be of assistance for the Dalai Lama’s cause, for humanity, I will do. He’s expressing love to the world. He’s bringing blessings to humanity, leading up to changes about to come; and he’s just doing it through love.

Love and compassion were his message. If you contemplate what Buddhism is, it’s universal love; and you don’t just talk about it.

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