Behind Geshe Thupten Dorjee in a dimly lit office sits a four-by-six frame on a mahogany table adorned with red, yellow and blue, the colors of the Tibetan flag. The frame holds a picture of a man in his 70s with light brown skin, soft features, crinkles around his eyes and a sweet smile.

The Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of Tibet. He will be speaking at Bud Walton Arena Wednesday, May 11 at 9:30 a.m. and again at 1:30 p.m. (MCT Campus)

“The Dalai Lama is always smiling,” Dorjee said. “He is the embodiment of love, compassion and happiness.”

Though the Dalai Lama has walked the path of exile and suffered many hardships, he shows no sign of contempt, Dorjee said.

Tibetans generally believe him to be the reincarnation of his predecessors and a manifestation of the Buddha.

“During the dying process, the Dalai Lama leaves various signs and messages about the place of rebirth and then after his death, the search for the new Dalai Lama begins,” Dorjee said.

The Dalai Lama was born in Takster, Qinghai and was selected as the reincarnation of each of the previous thirteen Dalai Lamas of Tibet at the age of two.

However, he was not formally recognized as the Dalai Lama until he was
15 years old.

“I was very happy,” said the Dalai Lama in a question and answer session on his website regarding his initial feelings on being recognized as the Dalai Lama. “Even before I was recognized, I often told my mother that I was going to Lhasa [the traditional capital of Tibet]. I used to straddle a windowsill in our house pretending that I was riding a horse to Lhasa. I was a very small child at the time, but I remember this clearly.”

This was also around the time when the Chinese government had unleashed an army of approximately 80,000 soldiers into Tibet in the fall of 1950. As the years passed, the situation got worse and eventually, the Dalai Lama was given instruction to leave the country for his safety.

On March 17, 1959, “a few minutes before ten o’clock, His Holiness, now disguised as a common soldier, slipped past the massive throng of people, along with a small escort and proceeded toward Kyichu river, where he was joined by the rest of the entourage, including his immediate family members,” according to the website.

He fled to India and established a government in exile.

“He made a painful decision that we can barely scratch the surface of,” said Sidney Burris, director of the honors program in the Fulbright College. “He would like to be at home with his people, but he had to leave them behind and fight for them outside and he does that 24 hours a day.”

Ever since his exile, he has traveled around the world for talks and lectures on various issues including compassion and non-violence.

He is  interested in promoting three things, which are human values, inter-religious harmony and the welfare of the Tibetan people, Burris said.

“He has a vision of identifying a commonly shared set of ethics to promote peace and harmony among all,” he said. “He also believes it is time for all religions to identify with spirituality…sort of a religious version of his first vision.”

This Dalai Lama is known as the greatest of all 14 Dalai Lamas, Dorjee said. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 and has received countless rewards and recognitions around the world.

The UA is very honored to host His Holiness, Dorjee said.

“There are six million Tibetans who would die to see the Dalai Lama. For them, this would be a blessing beyond recognition” he said. “In Tibet, they aren’t even allowed to have a picture of him.”

It isn’t unusual for the Tibetans to walk for years to see the Dalai Lama, Burris said.

“Not only grown people, but kids too, make the journey through the mountains to catch a glimpse of the Dalai Lama. Sometimes when the kids arrive, they have frostbite. All their parents want is for them to have the opportunity to see His Holiness and taste freedom,” he said.

The Dalai Lama’s visit is part of the University’s Distinguished Lecture Series, and was made possible through the efforts of Burris and Dorjee.

In the summer of 2009, the two met the Dalai Lama on a trip to India, as part of the Tibetans in Exile Today Project.

The TEXT Project is an oral-history program designed to record the stories of Tibetans living in refugee settlements in India.

Efforts to bring the Dalai Lama to the University began when Dorjee first came to the UA, Burris said. His Holiness turned down two letters of invitation before he accepted the third one in March 2010.

Preparations have been nonstop since then, Burris said.

“I’ve never helped organize the Dalai Lama’s visit before, and I’ve discovered it’s like a tsunami,” he said. “There are so many things to do.”

Burris and Dorjee have hosted various events throughout the year to prepare the community for the Dalai Lama’s visit, including films, exhibits, lectures, classes, and cultural events to raise community awareness.

“It’s important that students know who the Dalai Lama is and why he is such a prominent figure,” Burris said. “It is very difficult to find an equivalent of the Dalai Lama in other cultures.”

For more information regarding the history, life and goals of the Dalai Lama, visit www.dalailama.com.