“So far we only have seen changes in the tactics of the Dalai Lama; only seen his goals to achieve independence in disguise,” Phuntsok accused. (The Times, UK, July 2006).
That apart, it is extraordinary that the peasant farmer’s son, born Lhamo Dhondrub, in the small and poor village of Taktser in north-eastern Tibet, should have grown to be so at one with the world; so able to catch the ear of world leaders. Nor were Pope Paul John II’s beginnings all that spectacular. Evangelist Billy Graham was a country boy.
But what of the Dalai Lama personally?
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He replied Tibetan Buddhists had known tragedy but generally they were a happy people. “That is very useful,” he said. His own responsibilities were heavy and although he was sometimes sad, “I’m a happy man,” he said.
Again the huge, amiable man shook with boyish laughter.
This article is one of Judy Cannon's stories about travellers and travelling from a work-in-progress collection.
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About the Author
Judy Cannon is a journalist and writer, and occasional contributor to On Line Opinion. Her family biography, The Tytherleigh Tribe 1150-2014 and Its Remarkable In-Laws, was published in 2014 by Ryelands Publishing, Somerset, UK. Recently her first e-book, Time Traveller Woldy’s Diary 1200-2000, went
up on Amazon Books website. Woldy, a time traveller, returns to the
West Country in England from the 12th century to catch up with
Tytherleigh descendants over the centuries, and searches for relatives
in Australia, Canada, America and Africa.
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