The Dalai Lama

Dharamsala, India - The Dalai Lama has the greatest laugh.
If one of those jolly, fat Buddha statues had a white string on the back that you could pull, the sound would be his laugh.

You cannot help but join him when he chuckles, even if with language barriers you don't know what joke he made.

The rock star lama is often traveling and normally isn't in residence here this time of year, but I lucked out. I've spent the last two mornings listening to him teach at the big temple near his home.

I'm not a religious person, but I'm drawn to the philosophy and spirituality of Buddhism. I like it's dismissal of the absolute, rejection of the material, focus on the individual and tolerance for fellow man. And there isn't much dogma in Buddhism.

His holiness, as he's called around here, speaks often about infinite compassion and altruism. Yesterday, he talked about how to be compassionate to even your enemy.
One can change his enemy's "wrong dream" without losing compassion, he said. "If we use our intellect properly, it is possible."
Such faith in man.

I studied Buddhism in college as part of my religion course, but I couldn't follow all he lectured about. Still, it was fascinating to watch his loyal followers. The temple was packed with people sitting on little pillows on the concrete. Monks came round with Tibetan tea and bread. There were a bunch of Western wanna-be's in the audience - dreadlocks, grubby clothes, I-know attitudes.

The Dalai Lama spoke in English at first, then switched to Tibetan. There were translations available over FM radio in a bunch of different languages.
Today, his last day of teaching, he thanked his followers from traditional Buddhist countries. Then he welcomed the Westerners.
"But they are so serious," he said with a grin in his voice.
And the crowd laughed.