His Holiness Teaches Life Lessons in Lehigh Valley

Thursday, 17 July 2008, 12:52 p.m.

As His Holiness the Dalai Lama departs Lehigh Valley, His life
lessons remain. From psychology to yoga, those who heard him say
they’ll follow his path.

Bethlehem, PA: His Holiness
stepped out of Lehigh University’s Stabler Arena and into Tuesday’s
sunny afternoon. Tibet’s spiritual leader bowed with hands clasped
before a cheering crowd of hundreds chanting, ”Long live the Dalai
Lama!”

His Holiness the Dalai Lama greets a young girl at Lehigh University’s Stabler Arena on the last day of his visit to the Lehigh Valley on Tuesday. (Michael Kubel, Allentown Morning Call / 15 July 2008)

His Holiness paused for photographs with volunteers and Lehigh
employees, blessed onlookers and even reached over a security fence to
hug an old acquaintance. Then, he stepped into the back of a shiny,
black sedan flanked by U.S. State Department Diplomatic Security agents
and zipped away.

With that, His Holiness the Dalai Lama concluded his historic
six-day lecture at Lehigh. For some Lehigh Valley residents, His
Holiness leaves behind a veritable buffet of life lessons to reflect
upon in the spirit of his opening remarks, when he told his audience to
simply listen with an open heart.

”If you feel something [is] useful, take it!” His Holiness said. ”If you feel it’s nonsense, forget it!”

His humility, evident in his opening remarks, and his genuine
wisdom are among the things university President Alice P. Gast will
take from his visit.

But Gast was also among the privileged few who met with His
Holiness the Dalai Lama in person on a few occasions, once during
lunch. She found him to be as humble in person as he was in public.

”You are talking to someone who is so revered and he
immediately sets you at ease,” she said. ”He is very distinguished
and yet he assumes a very human and down-to-earth role.”

His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s visit gave university faculty and
staff an opportunity to spend a year in advance of his visit studying
the culture, religion and teachings of Tibetan Buddhism. From an
educational standpoint, the visit was tremendously valuable, said Gast.

”He is certainly one of the most distinguished and well-known people we’ve had,” she said.

What Fountain Hill resident Melissa Shafer will take from His
Holiness the Dalai Lama’s visit is a deeper understanding of some
universal truths found in all religions. Shafer, a minister with
Metaphysical Universal Ministries, said love, compassion and the golden
rule are all common themes.

She was struck by a simple gesture often repeated by the Dalai
Lama during his lectures. When he would speak of the mind, he would
make a motion with his hand toward his heart, said Shafer, her own hand
clasped at her heart and her eyes shut tightly during a lunch break
Tuesday.

”We all need to learn to think with our hearts,” she said.

Gentleness in the face of confrontation is another lesson Shafer
said she learned and can apply to her life when confronted by someone
who’s upset.

”Sometimes it’s the gentleness that speaks louder than force,” she said.

What Ian Birky, director of counseling services at Lehigh
University, takes from the six-day lecture is the wisdom gained from
3,000 years of study of the human mind by Tibetan Buddhist monks. It’s
a study that struck Birky as being more advanced in many ways than
Western psychology.

He said Western psychology tries to get a person to understand
the people or actions that cause pain. Buddhists teach the person to be
in touch with the self that is reacting in hurt and figure out why,
said Birky.

”If I can practice the (Buddhist) path I can become selfless
enough where I don’t have to experience hurt, hold onto it,” Birky
said.

Birky hopes to incorporate what he has learned into his practice.

Kumkum Sharma, a certified yoga instructor with a master’s
degree in molecular genetics, hopes to one day share what she’s learned
from attending all six days of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s lectures.

What struck her most wasn’t what he said but his presence, his infectious laugh and the energy that resonated from him.

”It’s the beauty which spills out when your heart is open,”
said Sharma, who was born in India and now lives in Easton. ”It flows
out like a wonderful river and it just flows through him.”

Sharma occasionally teaches yoga to cancer patients at the
Bethlehem Wellness Center. She hopes to practice what she’s learned
about Eastern philosophy, meditation and patience and share it with
others.

”It’s a process and a journey,” she said. ”It’s a journey we are all on and I want to continue that journey.”

–This story is reproduced from The Morning Call, (www.mcall.com). Reporting by Veronica Torrejón and Michael Duck