_photography

Monks in Monastery, Tibet...

5th March, 1996.

...had an audience with the Dalai Lama today.  A huge queue of tourists, locals and recently arrived pilgrims and refugees.  He didn't have time for much more than a glance as you passed him by, and then onto the next, and the next, and the next.  Rounded humble shoulders, short bowing movements; His Gentleness.  Later that evening we went up to Lopsang's, a young Tibetan artist we had been helping with English lessons.  Up a precarious flight of stone stairs behind McLeod Ganj to his room.  We spent some time chatting with him and his room-mates.  Here was the spirit of the Dalai Lama I was looking for; an incredible undercurrent of energy.  Free from the trivialities that soften us westerners I felt truly inspired and in awe of these people, envious of the passion they had for their lives and their cause.  Here was life laid out raw before me, I felt somewhat disenfranchised from this reality.  Please let me not be so trivial in my life.....

Copyright Sunda 1997