Dr Miriam Defensor Santiago

Senator of the Philippines

Anyone looking for a preternatural spiritual leader will not find it in the Dalai Lama. He is a slight, brown, smiling man in a Buddhist robe, always ready to put his palms together and bow his head slightly at a friend -- he has millions of friends all over the world. He is the personification of Buddhist virtues of compassion and detachment. He is the Dalai Lama -- not of Tibet, but of the world. The Dalai Lama that I have met twice -- in Rome, and then in New Delhi -- likes nothing better than to pretend that he is an ordinary Joe, your garden variety Buddhist monk. He delights in putting people at ease. He does not attempt to put on a

grave demeanor. Far from it. Behind the glasses, his eyes are perpetually twinkling. He revels at cracking jokes during his speeches. But eventually, the Dalai Lama, in subtle ways, reveals himself. His genuine bonhomie is the perfection of the art of living life in all its manifestations, whether brilliant or sordid. The grandfatherly twinkle of his eyes is the culmination of years of staring at space and time and absorbing, the gift of universal compassion. There is peacefulness and serenity as the Dalai Lama walks quietly, occasionally slinging his robe

across his shoulder. There is a quiet detachment: he is not fooled by what this world has to offer. A person without illusions is a person bound by iron discipline of the will. As a politician, Im bored to tears by people suffering the illusion that fame and fortune are the essence of good life. The ignorance of the politician is his own worst enemy, because it prompts conceit, arrogance, and self-delusion. How foolish politicians are; how foolish the world is! Thank heaven there is a Dalai Lama.

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