What is a lama's greatest gift?
Mouse-size musings from The Dalai Lama's Cat
What is the greatest gift a spiritual teacher can bestow on us? The most treasured of prizes that it is possible to possess?
Even though I have observed the exchanges between lamas and students since I was just a kitten and – as you know better than most, dear reader - am among the wisest and most percipient of cats, the subject of a guru’s greatest gift was not one to which I’d ever devoted a moment’s thought. Until one particular afternoon when His Holiness gave a public audience downstairs.
A small group visitors, Asian and Western, monastics and lay people, had gathered for this most auspicious of encounters. Quietly settled on a chair to one side, I felt the hallowed but electrified hush of anticipation as the hands of the wall clock flicked towards the allotted time. The moment that the Dalai Lama stepped into the room, in an instant sweeping away the earnest silence with a wave of benevolent, joyful energy.
I never tired of observing the ritual offering of white scarves. That special instant of connection when His Holiness placed each white scarf back around the neck of a visitor, and met their eyes with his own expression of oceanic compassion. He said a few words to the group while standing among them, all the while holding people’s hands in each of his, the better to convey his warm affection.
Then taking his place on a chair to face his visitors, who sat or kneeled on cushions before him, there followed brief exchanges with members of the group. This was when a French man explained that he was making a pilgrimage to Dharamshala from Marseille in memory of his late, beloved teacher. When he mentioned the lama’s name, the Dalai Lama’s face lit up. “An old school Geshe,” he nodded respectfully. “And a great teacher.”
“Oui!” The Frenchman, smiling, seemed emboldened by his response. “He gave his students a clear understanding of the entire path to enlightenment.” Touching his heart he said, “I believe this was his special gift to us.”
His Holiness’s eyes twinkled in the mischievous way they sometimes do when he hears a thing that requires a perspective-changing response. One that, in this particular case, he was evidently keeping up the sleeve of his robe for the moment. Instead, he asked, “Is there anyone else here whose lama has also passed away?”