KU is hosting five beautiful Tibetans this semester (three monks, one tantric master, and one layman). This is an exciting time! It took them three years to get their visas from China, and now that they are here, they have to be very careful not to mention the Dalai Lama or speak in their native language around any Chinese--I guess there are Chinese students here at KU who will tell on them and get them into serious trouble when they return.
Thanks to Leigh, who is taking Tibetan, we got to hang out with them all day Sunday! They came over to our house and had tea and muffins. We laughed and sang and chanted. They are so funny, and playful, just like children. Then we walked around downtown and took them to the park where they excitedly ran over to the swings. It was their first time swinging! They didn't know how, so we pushed them. After that we visited their dorms and then all ate dinner together at the cafeteria.
Since Buddhism is non-theistic, the "God" Buddhists "worship" is a compassionate mind. And they actually have practices to generate more of this mind inside themselves. They do mantras and practice love all day, and no doubt this is why we all fell madly in love with them: we could pick up on their profound mental state.
But they were also just regular guys, so human, so humble. "People are just people."
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