His Holiness The Dalai Lama comes to Australia... at a price
February 28th 2008 00:51
I am never the first to rush out to buy tickets to see Elton John, Roxette or even my gorgeous dirty boy Robbie Williams. Crowds make me anxious. I am sure there is a name for this. I am always afraid someone will trample on my feet, steal my wallet or alternatively that I will get crushed in a stampede when Robbie takes his shirt off on stage or makes tongue gestures that cause girls to shriek rabidly.
I find big concerts with the attendant evils of standing in queues while silently beseeching your bladder to ‘please hold it in a little longer,’ and waiting for transport at the end in a throng of inebriated youngsters just enough to put me off becoming a groupie of any kind to any form of rock star or performer.
However, when I heard that his Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama was coming to Australia, my heart did a little skip in my chest.
I do think some people are worth the indignity of crowd-congestion. I would sacrifice my aversion of the masses for but a handful of individuals and His Holiness is one of them. I have had an ongoing interest in Buddhism since my twenties. I buy books with the Dalai Lama’s face on them because he looks so loving and gentle, and I memorize some of his quotes, because he is wise and compassionate and has a way of saying things to make you feel like all the mountains you’ve been obsessing over are in reality, not even molehills. They’re just illusions of molehills. In fact, I would go so far as to say that one would have to be some kind of sick creepy individual not to love the Dalai Lama.
So with my mob-aphobia under control, and my heart clear and pure, I investigated what it would cost me to stand in a horde with other enlightenment-seekers, and listen to his Holiness speak his words.
What I discovered however, despite his lack of attachment to material goods, that an audience with the Dalai Lama is for the wealthy only. Tickets start at $350, but that is probably for right at the back where you can only see him on a massive screen. Really decent tickets are in the region of $800 each.
Now I am sure his Holiness does not organize his own speaking engagements. And I am equally sure he does not take any of the proceeds of such events to buy expensive after shaves and rolex watches. I am quite certain that some portion, if not all of the proceeds go towards the good people of Tibet and their struggle against the Chinese invasion, and I am all for contributing towards human rights causes.
However, I, within the mortal constraints of my income, simply cannot afford to be part of that audience. And I wonder, even as I accept that it is my karma not to see the Dalai Lama in person unless we say, accidentally brush past each other Westfield, whether it is right and fair that tickets should be so beyond the reach of the ordinary person. Shouldn’t perhaps the tickets be around $50, on a first-come-first-serve basis so that enthusiasm rather than wealth becomes the qualifying factor?
www.joannefedler.com
statue of the Buddha
However, when I heard that his Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama was coming to Australia, my heart did a little skip in my chest.
I do think some people are worth the indignity of crowd-congestion. I would sacrifice my aversion of the masses for but a handful of individuals and His Holiness is one of them. I have had an ongoing interest in Buddhism since my twenties. I buy books with the Dalai Lama’s face on them because he looks so loving and gentle, and I memorize some of his quotes, because he is wise and compassionate and has a way of saying things to make you feel like all the mountains you’ve been obsessing over are in reality, not even molehills. They’re just illusions of molehills. In fact, I would go so far as to say that one would have to be some kind of sick creepy individual not to love the Dalai Lama.
So with my mob-aphobia under control, and my heart clear and pure, I investigated what it would cost me to stand in a horde with other enlightenment-seekers, and listen to his Holiness speak his words.
What I discovered however, despite his lack of attachment to material goods, that an audience with the Dalai Lama is for the wealthy only. Tickets start at $350, but that is probably for right at the back where you can only see him on a massive screen. Really decent tickets are in the region of $800 each.
A leaf from the Bodhi tree in India
Now I am sure his Holiness does not organize his own speaking engagements. And I am equally sure he does not take any of the proceeds of such events to buy expensive after shaves and rolex watches. I am quite certain that some portion, if not all of the proceeds go towards the good people of Tibet and their struggle against the Chinese invasion, and I am all for contributing towards human rights causes.
However, I, within the mortal constraints of my income, simply cannot afford to be part of that audience. And I wonder, even as I accept that it is my karma not to see the Dalai Lama in person unless we say, accidentally brush past each other Westfield, whether it is right and fair that tickets should be so beyond the reach of the ordinary person. Shouldn’t perhaps the tickets be around $50, on a first-come-first-serve basis so that enthusiasm rather than wealth becomes the qualifying factor?
www.joannefedler.com
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Comment by Michaelie
Flick Wit
Also agree about crowds, though I did overcome my aversion in order to see Robbie.
Michaelie
Comment by Joanne Fedler
Secret Writers Business
Glad I'm not a lone voice in the wilderness on this point... and I ALSO overcame my aversion to see Robbie, and I have to say it was a massive disappointment. He was so out of it, incoherent and it weirded me out. I also have had bad experiences with a concert with Bob Dylan and so now I prefer to get the dvd of the concert and watch on my couch in the comfort of my home where no-one will trample on my toes and I won't have to stand in line to do a wee.
Jo