I can only say one word about last week:

Whew.

OK, so I have a few more words. But this is the (very) condensed version.

Last week was the culmination of years of work on the part of many people. His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet visited our campus and our community, changing countless lives and proving that the citizens of Fayetteville are unique, welcoming, diverse, and cosmopolitan all at once. It was one of the largest crowds that the Dalai Lama had ever spoken to in North America, and he was impressed not only by the size of the audience (over 14,000), but by the involvement of the community.

Why do I care? I gained an interest in Tibetan culture during my Asian Studies class (hi, Dr. Neralich!) in high school about five years ago. Since then, I’ve befriended many a Tibetan monk, traveled to India and Nepal to study Tibetan culture in exile, and have even learned some of the language. Both the culture and the cause of the Tibetan people hold a special place in my heart, and having the Dalai Lama visit my hometown to a sold-out crowd was just icing on the cake.

Through Dr. Sidney Burris, Geshe Thupten Dorjee (who is officiating our wedding!), and the Tibetan Cultural Institute of Arkansas, I was granted a media pass to take photos at the main events. It was my first time up with the media photographers, and though we weren’t allowed any freedom to roam and get the actual images we would have liked, it was still an amazing experience. I took over 2,500 photos over the past week, and they were a joy to edit.

The panel discussion with Sister Helen Prejean and professor Vincent Harding was phenomenal. It was obvious that a lot of time, effort, and thought had gone into planning both the panelists and the questions they were asked. The audio in Bud Walton Arena wasn’t too up to par, though; everyone, especially His Holiness, was difficult to understand. Luckily, video of the events will be posted on Youtube and a transcript of both events will be posted this week. Check dalailama.uark.edu frequently if you’re interested.

Edit: Transcripts and video of the event are now available at dalailama.uark.edu

I was also fortunate enough to be a part of a photo exhibit in the University of Arkansas’ main library, showing some of my images of Tibetan exile life in India alongside images from Tibet taken by Tibetan photographer Sonam Zoksang from New York. We also gave a slideshow together in Old Main — the last event before the coming of His Holiness — and I think it was fairly successful as my first slideshow ever. (I’ve also been told that His Holiness went to the library to see the sand mandala created by the Mystical Arts of Tibet and also looked at and thoroughly enjoyed our photos, even shedding tears at one of Zoksang’s images of Tibetans in Tibet.) All of the images I had there are for sale, and if an image you wanted was sold, I can print more!

We were also quite busy, as we just moved into a new house last Monday, and had eight people staying with us on Tuesday and Wednesday: three Nepali monks, a yogi, a lay person, and a few Americans. The coolest house guests ever.

After getting up at 5:30 the previous day, we did it one more time on Thursday in order to get to Carnall Hall by 7 a.m. to potentially catch a glimpse of His Holiness walking out to his caravan. We got even luckier: we got to go inside and have a group audience (including photos) with him. After photos, he gathered us around him and spoke to us for a few minutes. I wish it could have lasted forever, and I wish I could have counted the number of smiles and tears in the room. There was even a rainbow in the sky next to the hotel. What a morning. My fiancee had gotten to have a smaller audience with him, along with our house guests, the day before, but I’ll let you ask her about her tears of joy if you so desire.

(c) University Relations 2011

(c) University Relations 2011

There is so much that I’ve left out, but I’ve got to go plant some tomatoes! I highly recommend you read this article and check back there frequently to get a better feeling of how the week went.

You can see my images from last week on Flickr:

Tibet Week at the Farmer’s Market

Dalai Lama at the UA

Sand Mandala Destruction Ceremony

You can purchase prints here. Proceeds will benefit Tibetan refugees in India. For signed/matted/framed prints, contact me.

EDIT: All images relating to the Mystical Arts of Tibet (who chanted at the Town Center and made the sand mandala) have been removed from the proofing site by request of Drepung Loseling. They may or may not be put back up for purchase in the future; in the meantime you can still view the images on Flickr.