Posted on 04/15/2005 6:05:08 AM PDT by bedolido
BOISE, Idaho - Sun Valley is used to hosting hundreds of thousands of visitors annually, but a planned Sept. 11 visit by the Dalai Lama could draw 100,000 for one event - and that has law enforcement and tourism officials scrambling. Details such as visitor housing and security loom large.
The Nobel Peace Prize-winning spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists will visit the famous mountain resort community on the fourth anniversary of the terrorist attacks that rocked America.
Walt Femling, the sheriff of rural Blaine County, met visit organizers Wednesday, accompanied by officials including his disaster services coordinator. He said he fears the event could dominate his officers' time in coming months.
According to a tentative schedule, the Dalai Lama will speak at a land preserve owned by The Nature Conservancy, located south of Sun Valley near the tiny town of Picabo, population 50.
"They will helicopter His Holiness to the site, down the long sliver of valley and high mountains, to this open space filled with thousands of waiting people," according to a statement provided to the Associated Press by the local visitors bureau.
On Sept. 12, he'll meet U.S. business leaders in a private session, followed by an afternoon visit with as many as 12,000 Idaho children.
Finally, on Sept. 13, he is scheduled to bless a Tibetan prayer wheel in a ceremony in nearby Ketchum.
The Buddhist leader lives in exile in India and leads Tibetans who have resisted half a century of Chinese rule. A call to his New York office to discuss why he chose Sun Valley for the Sept. 11 anniversary visit was not immediately returned Wednesday.
Event planners include Renee Klein, who worked with the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics organizing committee. She says shuttle buses will be needed, to help ferry visitors staying in accommodations as far away as Boise and Salt Lake City.
The Sun Valley area, made famous by celebrities including Ernest Hemingway and actor Gary Cooper - and now Tom Hanks and Jamie Lee Curtis - has hotel and condominium space for just 5,700 people, tourism officials said.
So...Dalai Lama is a Minnesota Gopher fan, then ?
Yea, that Dalai Lama. Always stirring up trouble. I heard he runs with a pretty rough crowd.
I can't help but laugh. The Dalai Lama used to live near me when I was in college and I often met him on the street. It's hard to imagine him drawing these types of crowds when I remember him as a very quiet, humble man always walking quietly about.
"(Bad enough we have Californians moving here)"
I don't quite get it
my attempt at sarcasm. sorry if it offended you.
-"They will helicopter His Holiness to the site, down the long sliver of valley and high mountains, to this open space filled with thousands of waiting people,"-
Hoo-boy - that beautiful open space is gonna look like a trash heap once the crowd is dispersed.
So, I tell them I'm a pro jock, and who do you think they give me? The Dalai Lama, himself. Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald... striking. So, I'm on the first tee with him. I give him the driver. He hauls off and whacks one -- big hitter, the Lama -- long, into a ten-thousand foot crevice, right at the base of this glacier.
And do you know what the Lama says? Gunga galunga...gunga -- gunga galunga.
So we finish the eighteenth and he's gonna stiff me. And I say, "Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know." And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consiousness."
So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.
I'm sorry, but the first thing that popped into my mind was, "this has 'South Park episode' written all over it".
:)
That aside, I have tremendous respect for the Dalai Lama. Given the opportunity to see him in person, I'd probably be getting on one of those shuttle busses to Idaho too.
Just out of curiosity, why do you have tremendous respect for the DL?
I've read 'art of happiness' and a few of his other books, as well as some by various advisors and other Buddhist practioners. They are all very good reads. Meditation is a very good and relaxing practice and the Dahli Lama is a very wise and good person.
I recall reading something abuot him a year or so ago where he happened to be in the same room (like during a TV interview switch or something) as Al Sharpton and some other Dem politicians. And he said something like:
"Politicians I think just say what people want to hear".
Forget exactly, but it was pretty funny.
I've read quite a bit of his writing, and like Travis here, was pretty impressed by his wisdom and gentleness.
I practice meditation as a stress-management method, and have found him to be a source of inspiration.
"Apologies if I am being inappropriate in asking these questions."
---
Not at all! It is good that you are curious. First, I think a lot of comparison between eastern and western cultures gets lost in translation and, more importantly, in general human communication. God is a difficult thing to define and different people have different notions of Him. The same with a soul, etc...
Meditation is a very benficial practice that should not be tied to any particular religion. Prayer is a form of meditation (and vice versa).
A few weekends ago I met a Christian women who was an 'expert' meditator, she said it enourmously enhanced her ability to be close to God. It can enhance the practice of any religion, or can be done just by itself.
Basically it teaches one to calm the mind, which is undoubtably why SavageRepublican uses it as a stress releasor (as you can tell he is normally quite Savage):). By calming the mind you become more intune with ones body, emotions, thoughts, and, in the JudeoChristian sense, if one was praying then your prayers would be clearer and perhaps you would be more liable to 'receive'(if one does this). There are various exercises you can do to train the mind and get it more under your control.
My Christian friend used meditation to completely relax and still the mind before prayer.
Your correct that Yoga is actually a religion, but you can still separate out the physical exercises if one wishes to partake in them. I'm not too familiar with Yoga, although I do stretches before meditation.
When the Dalai Lama visits the US he normally speaks of meditation etc.. in this mostly non-religion-specific way, which I think is a rarity among religious leaders and, in my view, very positive. I've also read some of the books on 'mind life conferences'(or something) series of meetings he's had with various western scientists where they discuss eastern ideas about the mind with western neuroscientists, sleep scientists, psychiatrists etc... They have hooked up monks to EEG, MRI machines etc... and seen marked differences in the brainwaves, even while not meditating.
It is refreshing to me to see a religious authority so big on embracing scientific research - in effect saying "We know meditation is good and beneficial, we will help you scientists do whatever you need to prove it".
oh and besides, he's against the Commies. :)
Reminds me a bit of John Paul. You can love the guy just cuz he and Reagan brought down Communism in Poland.
btw, if your interested I wrote a piece expanding on some of these ideas a bit more (especially definitions of God etc):
http://www.neoperspectives.com/theoryofgod.htm
I am also doing some writing on meditation, which I can ping you with when im through if you wish.
Yes, but I already knew all of this... I'm still stoked about the total consiousness thing.
PS: Gunga galunga.
Anyway, I gotta save the poontang line for the next troll that comes along.
My uncle is a close friend of the Dalai Lama, and he would stay at my uncle's home frequently when visiting the Beltway. I think of him as his Holiness. My uncle thinks of him as that, and as a friend. Fortunate, I think.
Thanks, I read your fascinating piece briefly. I'll read it again in detail.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.