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* By chance, I happened to be in audience with the Dalai Lama when the document enacting his resignation was brought for signature. He left the room for a few minutes and returned with the air of a man in whom relief mingled with awe at what he had wrought.
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* This was Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, the so-called “Bishop of Bling.”
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* I am one of them. The rule explained at the outset was that organizers could charge to cover the costs of hosting the Dalai Lama and his entourage. Any surplus should be donated to one or more local charities.
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* When I put this to the Dalai Lama in April 2019, he did not answer directly but conceded that, on a recent visit to Ladakh, many had observed an unusual cloud formation roll over the mountains from Tibet during a teaching he was giving. As soon as the ceremonies were concluded, the cloud went back the way it came, leaving a rainbow in its wake. “So, something mysterious,” he said.
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* To this achievement might also be added the extraordinary success of Tibetan studies as an academic discipline. From this has come a vast literature of translations and other secondary literature.
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The Dalai Lama Page 54
