Planes, Trains and His Holiness
(The Sunday Age Magazine | Melbourne | May 19, 2002)
How do you get a Dalai Lama on the road? Alan Molloy and his trusty band have spent the past two years preparing, writes Kathy Evans
Doctor Alan Molloy is a big bluff man in an immaculate suit who talks 19 to the dozen. He's been up since 5.30am on this day in mid April and he positively quivers with energy. As we speed through the streets of a grey sluggish dawn, he waves a hand towards the rows of neat gardens. "If happiness were a car, a house, a job, the suburbs would be filled with enlightenment." We are heading towards Melbourne's Spencer Street station in Molloy's plush Toyota to catch a train to Geelong for a meeting with the local council to talk about traffic. Geelong is hosting a visit by the 14th Dalai Lama and Molloy is the national director of Dalai Lama In Australia Ltd (DLIAL), a company set up two years ago to organise bringing His Holiness here.
"Geelong! Can you imagine it? Even the Rolling Stones don't do Geelong," laughs Molloy as we board the 7.50am train. It is virtually empty, which pleases Molloy who likes to spread out. "Know what I love about trains? I love being able to see into everyone's gardens."
The suburbs, he says, are a cauldron brimming with human suffering. That's OK because such suffering is the springboard to happiness. A Buddhist and a medical practitioner, Molloy knows a lot about suffering of the physical kind. But it's the deep anguish of everyday living that haunts a lot of us the most; the kind of non-specific mental ache that a doctor can't fix. However, he knows a man who can. "I really believe His Holiness has got the answers to the survival of humanity," he says. "He can show us the path to enlightenment. But, of course, we have to do the work ourselves. If the Dalai Lama or any other teacher could do it for us, then the suburbs would be filled with enlightened souls."
It is expected that 12,000 souls looking for enlightenment will flock to Baytec Stadium (the usual home of AFL team the Geelong Cats) for a free talk this Thursday. Another 7,000 are expected to buy tickets for the White Tara blessing ceremony on the same day. The very thought of 4,000 cars and 71 buses spilling into the streets that surround the stadium is causing a few furrowed brows among police and members of the Geelong City Council, who are gathered for this traffic and transport planning meeting. In the Cats' conference room, amid portraits of various footie legends, parking problems are painstakingly ironed out. Around the table Keron Fletcher (Dalai Lama Geelong event manager) and Jampa Drolma (Dalai Lama Geelong schools event coordinator) join in the ping-pong of ideas.
The big dilemma as Molloy sees it is getting His Holiness here in the first place. Road works on the Princes Highway have added an extra 40 minutes to the journey, which is hellish when you're running to a tight schedule. It is suggested that the Dalai Lama might he flown in by helicopter. Molloy ponders the idea but His Holiness is travelling with an entourage of 10. That would mean borrowing a troop carrier from the RAAF, hardly appropriate for a man who has dedicated his life to peace. Other questions are debated: where will the VIPs park? Does ?His Holiness have to walk through the Cats' dressing room to get on stage? Has the railway authority pledged to run extra trains (the current Melbourne-Geelong service does not arrive in time for the 10am start)? Heads bow, pens scribble and eyes squint at a screen projecting a map of the club and surrounding streets. At this stage, the visit is four weeks away and there's still a lot to sort out. If Molloy's stomach is nervously churning, he shows no sign. Two hours later, we are rushing to catch the train back to Melbourne for a meeting of the DLIAL committee at the company's small office tucked away behind a bookshop in Swanston Street.
It seems a contradiction in terms. The Dalai Lama, or Tenzin Gyatso (ocean of wisdom), is a symbol of spiritualism and purity, the complete antithesis of a corporate culture that is more concerned with profit than purification. When he first came to Australia in 1982, there was no security; he stayed in private houses and gave talks in town halls. This time - he was due in Australia yesterday - he has been 'risk assessed" by the police and will stay in a five-star hotel. He will have travelled from his home in the Indian Himalayan town of Dharamsala by business class (His Holiness refuses to travel first-class but doesn't mind being upgraded from economy). His entourage includes secretaries, security personnel, two translators (English and Chinese), members of the Tibetan government-in-exile and two personal attendants who will feed and clothe him (though a Tibetan monk has only three robes so it doesn't sound like a demanding job).
So what has changed since that first visit? Nothing with His Holiness. His views on peaceful resolutions, compassion and love have remained reassuringly steadfast. On the face of it, his world has hardly changed at all. He is now as he was then, the Tibetan leader-in-exile forced to run his country by proxy since Chinese tanks rolled into the capital, Lhasa, in 1959.
It is the world around him that has changed. In the West the growing preoccupation with corporate culture has infiltrated Buddhism. When the Dalai Lama plays Geelong, Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney, on sale will be key rings, bags, books, T-shirts, baseball caps, mugs and even a commemorative book, ironically entitled Happiness In A Material World. One wonders if such merchandising conflicts with the Buddhist principle that says acquiring possessions can only increase our suffering. As His Holiness points out in his best-selling Book Of Wisdom, "Materialism does not foster the growth of morals, compassion and humility."
But Molloy does not see this synthesis of two vastly different worlds as a problem. Indeed, it's a necessity. Buddhism has no wealthy hierarchy. Money must come from donation. This tour will cost more than $1 million. Public liability insurance alone is $36,000, a 36-fold increase since the Dalai Lama's last visit, in 1996. Without its sponsors, its friends and its benefactors, this tour would not have happened. Every T-shirt sold is a free seat. Also, as Molloy points out, the Tibetan leader's popularity has skyrocketed in the past decade. "Since he received the Nobel peace prize in 1989 his status on the world stage has been hugely elevated. His Holiness doesn't see much difference but from our side we have to do things professionally to bring someone of his stature to Australia. We used to do the security. Now, because of his stature, the police demand that they do it and we are very grateful because we do need professional help."
Molloy says the events of September 11 have not changed security arrangements. His Holiness is more vulnerable to an attack by a deranged fan than any terrorist. So there'll be no "lama-mobile' just yet, he says with a grin.
It is lunchtime and he is still firing on all cylinders. "I get used to less sleep," he says. "When you meditate you can get away with less." Molloy lives in bayside East Brighton at a Buddhist centre with his wife and four-year-old daughter. They share the converted hospital with around 40 other Buddhists in what sounds like an idyllic existence: a hired chef does all the cooking, which allows them to spend the evening meditating or pursuing their studies.
Originally a Catholic, Molloy became interested in Buddhism at 17 and was involved in the first tour, "but only in a limited capacity because I was completing my medical exams. I blame the Dalai Lama for my poor academic performance!" This time, he will be chaperoning His Holiness during his visit and, yes, he's nervous. "Of course. What do you say to the Dalai Lama? 'Did you have a nice trip? What's the weather like where you've come from?' Everything you say sounds trite. The long and short of it is he's a very busy man, we'll be very busy, so it will he pure business issues, like, what are we doing tomorrow, the logistics, the nuts and bolts. I won't have time to tell him my personal problems and ask for solutions, but I'd like to."
When you ask him what it was like when he first met the Tibetan leader, it takes this normally gregarious man a while to answer as he rummages around in his brain for the answer. "It's shocking," he says finally. "Not in a negative sense ... it's hard to describe ... the depth of his acceptance of me. It's shocking to be with someone who is completely trustworthy. With him you get the sense this man is completely honest, right down to the core, the marrow."
Whatever happened in that first meeting ignited a spark that has fuelled his dedication to this venture. As a doctor he works a 40-hour week; add to that another 40 hours for organising the tour. "I briefly say hello to my wife and daughter and I eat and sleep and go to the toilet occasionally. My wife is called the Dalai Lama widow.
"Yes, what I'm doing is tough. It's tiring, it intrudes -into our personal life. My wife and daughter understand and they're supportive. My workmates would like me around a lot more and my personal business is suffering financially in the short-term but I'm hopeful that I'm doing the right thing and everything will be OK in the long-term." He can't guarantee his wife will meet the Dalai Lama, but he hopes she will, as a reward for her patience. (I can't help thinking if it were me, I'd probably want to spit in his chai, but I'm not a Buddhist.)
"It has been difficult," he acknowledges, "but it's a holiday, too. A holiday, because it is so worthwhile. The reward is quite simple. I am serving one of this era's greatest living beings and anything we can do to support him is supporting the survival of humanity."
Anna Goldstein, DLIAL's director of marketing and media, is wearing a grey business suit and has brown prayer beads around her wrist. We sit in a cafe near her office in Melbourne's Hardware Lane, where she orders a cup of chai and notices a parking officer slapping a ticket on her car. "Ah well, that's life," she murmurs. Goldstein has taken a career break so she can throw her energy into organising this tour, which, according to the PR blurb, has a strong youth focus. "It's important that the future generation get to bear what he has to say," she says.
For the past two years more than 500 schools in Victoria have been involved in essay competitions and various exercises to draw up a list of questions to ask the Dalai Lama. Goldstein reckons around 8,500 students and 700 teachers will attend the Schools Event at Melbourne's Rod Layer Arena tomorrow, which demonstrates something of His Holiness's appeal. (Though one wonders if he is preaching to the converted. Isn't it the politicians who need to attend?)
Like Molloy, Goldstein is a practising Buddhist. "We don't call it a religion; it's a science, a philosophy of the mind," she says. Broadly speaking, the Buddhist's goal is enlightenment - a state in which negative emotions are purged from the mind, which is instead filled with love and compassion. According to the teachings of the Dalai Lama, it is "afflictive emotions residing within our mind that are the real source of trouble or suffering".
That's where I come unstuck, I tell her. What is wrong with afflicting emotions? Anger can be a positive energy for change. It is only when it's not heard that it turns to rage. Love cannot exist without hate, they are the flip side of the same coin. The pure emotion of love is often trammelled by a whole spectrum of others - impatience, frustration and jealousy. Should we not just accept them as being part of human nature rather than attempt the impossible? I sense she doesn't want to he drawn into a debate but I persevere. The Dalai Lama's endless patience is not tested daily by the irrational demands of a two-year-old; he does not have to juggle job and family. His world is far removed from ours. What works for him won't necessarily work for us. Goldstein smiles enigmatically. "He has bigger problems. He's got a whole country to worry about in which a million people have been killed."
In DLIAL headquarters, two women are admiring a laminated poster of His Holiness. His bristle-brush head and large-framed glasses are not the hallmarks of attraction, yet a few years ago Cosmopolitan ranked him 26th in its poll of Most Loveable Men in the world - 10 higher than Antonio Banderas. In the cheerfully cluttered office there are bright orange Dalai Lama bumper stickers, books on the Dalai Lama and framed photos of the Dalai Lama on the wall.
Caroline Radford, DLIAL's director of administration, and Wendy White, executive assistant, are tired but exhilarated. Like runners in a marathon who can finally see the finishing line, they are,at that glorious point where the bulk of the hard work is over and the best is yet to come. They are pleased. Ticket sales for the Melbourne teachings are going well and Radford speculates that up to 20,000 people will attend today's free event.
It's been a roller-coaster ride for the committee and its 400 volunteers. Only a few weeks ago it looked as if the whole tour might he cancelled after His Holiness took ill in India with severe stomach pains. American, Canadian and European visits were shelved. Ironically, America, which has so many Buddhists, appears to he turning its back in the wake of September 11. A letter that the Dalai Lama wrote to President Bush after the terrorist attacks cautioning against retaliation received little attention.
Meanwhile, glossy magazines continue to peddle stories of Hollywood actors turning to Buddhism as an antidote to excess. It's easy to be cynical about the romantic fantasy the West has built around Tibet's religion, which has, no doubt, contributed to the Dalai Lama's star status. Yet, separate the man from the Shangri-la imagery and you find a down-to-earth humanist whose dogma is based on common sense and compassion. One does not have to share esoteric Buddhist beliefs to realise that what the Dalai Lama has to offer is rational wisdom that has pragmatic value - the answers to the survival of humanity, as the hard-working Molloy puts it. As we hold our breath while world leaders face off, it is clear we need him more than ever.
The Dalai Lama is giving free public talks: in Melbourne today at 4pm at the Rod Laver Arena; in Geelong on Thursday at 1.30pm at the Baytec Stadium; and in Sydney next Sunday, May 26, at 2pm at the Entertainment Centre. There will be a concert tribute to the Dalai Lama on May 26 at the Sydney Opera House at 7pm. Tickets to the concert are from $75. For more details, go to www.dalailama.org.au
Friends of Tibet (INDIA),
PO Box 16674, Bombay 400050
www.friendsoftibet.org