Friday, May 05, 2006

I thought it was the Dali Lama...and he was drinking a Grande

Before, I have been to Chapters *the Canadian version of B&N*, and have seen the Buddhist monks, dressed in traditional robes, hanging out...reading books. But yesterday, I went to starbucks, which is in Chapters, and I was wandering the aisles, and I come across a Buddhist Monk, that looks SO much like the Dali Lama, that I actually stopped in my tracks.

I know that there is a professor, at the University of Windsor, who is a personal friend of the Dali Lama, and he stops here every once in a while to say hi. Im not joking...you should hear all of the sociology professors. If you ask them about the DL, they ALL have stories of him being on campus. If it were only one prof, i might question it...but since its like 6 profs that I have heard from personally, it makes me more of a believer. I mean, COME ON...the Dali Lama??? HERE??? In Windsor??? I dunno, it sounds sort of "Lochness Monster" to me....

So with all of these alleged sightings and stories floating around, I am wandering the aisles, with my Gingerbread Steamer, and almost walk right into him. And he laughed and said "You almost dumped your starbucks". And we giggled about it, and I apologized for being a total klutz. But when I actually looked at his face, I stumbled over my words....I wasnt sure...he looked SO much like him...and after a brief exchange of words, I was on my way.....Right to the Eastern Religion section, to find a book with the Dali Lama on the cover, just to make sure.

It wasnt him...but Even still, I felt like a moron anyway.

44 comments:

Jennifer said...

At least if you dumped your coffee on the Dalai Llama, he'd take it in stride and be philosophical about it.
If you dumped your coffee on me that would be another story, I hate coffee, the smell turns my stomach.

Princess Pessimism said...

...It wasnt coffee..it was a steamer. Hot milk. I dont drink coffee....

You wrote Dalai LLama...llama...LOL!!! nerd. whats wrong with your fingers today?

Jennifer said...

Google it, Dalai Llama is an acceptable spelling of the his holiness' title.

Scott said...

I went to the U of Windsor and I heard that as well. Does seem rather out of place in a city like Windsor, but I also heard that his favourite television show is MASH, so whatever..

Scott

Princess Pessimism said...

Scott - you went to the U?? What year did you graduate?

Natalia said...

Ahhh that would have been awesome if it was him. I would have totally freaked and been all over the questions :)

-N

Trib said...

I read an article about him recently and found out that he's pretty against homosexuality. This surprised me. He seems like a very decent person, but still very human.

Princess Pessimism said...

Natalia - Thats why I went and looked at a picture of the DL, just to make sure. Cause if it was him, I would have sat with him for sure...but the absense of body guards should have been my tip that it wasnt.

Trib - Id like to read that article...find it if you can, and send me the link.

Jennifer said...

Really Trib, a homophobe? That's disappointing, I'd like to see that article too.

rawbean said...

Mmmm gingerbread steamer...

That's an awesome story! Smart move heading to the Eastern Religion right after to check out his picture, I may not have thought of that one.

What's the population of Windsor -do you know?

Princess Pessimism said...

Jennifer - That was my reasoning too.

Rawbean - Pupulation? Uhh...like 230.000 I think...not so big, but a total blue collar city. Not really for me

rawbean said...

Wouldn't pupulation be the quantity of dogs? I wonder what that is...

Princess Pessimism said...

Rawbean - OHHH BOOOOOOOO....BOOOO
Sorry..typo....

Josh said...

Wonder if the DL would know what a GB steamer was.

yrautca said...

I think you spelled Dalai Llama wrong. Blasphemy!

Princess Pessimism said...

Yrautca - Ya...i didnt think that it was "Llama".

Miss Ash said...

I had a Grande Green Tea Frappucino today...yum!

Princess Pessimism said...

MIss Ash - Is that that cold drink? With the Whip cream?? I havent had one of those since last summer.

Big Ben said...

I ran into the Pope in Fort Erie once.

JM said...

You aren't a moron.

Princess Pessimism said...

Ben - The Pope...In Fort Erie??? Was he partying it up on Garison Road at Club Paradise??? LOL!!!!

Angel - OHHH...thank you. At least one person doenst think so

Lindsey said...

That's so cool. We don't have that here. Right now the biggest attraction is the fact that Matthew Fox and Matthew McConaughy are filming a movie here.

Princess Pessimism said...

Linny - Uhhh...Matthew McConaughy? Id quit my job, and hang out there everyday. Well..maybe I wouldnt quit, but id certainly call in sick a few days

rawbean said...

Matthew McConaughy is hot, but weird. Did you ever see him in that episode of Sex and the City where he tried to seduce Carrie and told her he wanted to play Mr. Big in the movie version of her book? Creepy! And he was playing himself.

Trib said...

I've certainly taken my fine time, but here's the article scanned from the May 5 issue of The Week.

Page 1.
Page 2.

Tokyo Tintin said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Tokyo Tintin said...

as the asian correspondent to this blog, i'd like to weigh in on a few things.

first, "dalai llama" is not correct. (sorry jenni). in fact, it's the other way around. "lama" can be an acceptable spelling for the animal. nowadays, the spelling has been fixed with two "L"s , but in the olden days, with only one "L" was common.

the dalai lama's quotes in that article did kind of surprise me. he has in the past spoken most supportively of gays and lesbians.

it's also important to realise that tibetan buddhism is just one branch of buddhism --like mormons are one branch of christianity. even if the spiritual head of tibetan buddhism doesn't condone homosexuality, the teachings of buddha are very clear; human nature is neither good nor bad. only actions which lead to suffering are bad.

out of all the world religions, i think buddhism is the most a-okay gay one.

Tokyo Tintin said...

p.s. thank you for changing "tintin" for me PP.

Mentok said...

Is there some sort of Buddhist monastery in Windsor? I'm surprised you'd have so many hanging around.

trib's observations about DL's homophobic views are accurate. He has a number of anti-Buddhist and downright creepy views and practices...such as keeping the mummified corpse of his favourite childhood tutor in his study.

In this context, tintin's comments are important. The guy is the head of one Buddhist denomination, and a rather odd-ball, superstitious denomination at that. Only politics and luck (..and karma, I suppose) have catapulted him to international fame.

Amichai said...

I'm just wondering if he has to get those (orange?) robes dry cleaned or if he can just wash them in a regular washing machine? And how many does he have. I don't know much about buddism but I think there is some sort of aversion to too many earthly possesions, thus my wonderings, does he have just one or two or a whole closet of those robes? And what's his luggage like when he packs?

And if you're looking for a good cold non-coffee starbucks drink there's the new Blackberry Green Tea Frappiccino. It's almost like drinking a blueberry muffin in milkshake form, but in a good way.

Princess Pessimism said...

Rawbean - No, I did not see him on S&TC. I think that I might have only seen a dozen or so episodes in total.

Trib - Thank you for posting those, an interesting read for sure.

PX - Cause i'm so clumsy...LOL

Princess Pessimism said...

Tintin - Im with you on this, as I also found the DL's quotes about homosexuality quite shocking. But at the same time, I was also quite surprised about his views on sex in "the other two holes". I did not realize that their beliefs were so strict about those sorts of things. But I suppose if they dont condone homosexuality, then no anal sex makes sense.

Princess Pessimism said...

Mentok - do you really believe that buddhism is all about superstition? Not about Faith? Please clarify.

Amichai - You are right about the lack of material possessions...I have NO idea....maybe you should find out, consider that your homework assignment. LOL!

Jennifer said...

OK, so the Dalai Lama said this, "Too many people in the west have given up on marriage. They don't understand that it is about developing a mutual admiration of someone, a deep respect and trust and awareness of another human's needs."
Then right after the article has him saying that homosexuality, butt sex and oral are wrong.
I think he's contradicting himself, what if my partner respects me and understands my need to get my bits licked and get done up the butt? Or my need to have non-procreative sex, I like non-procreative sex, in fact it's the only type I'm prepared to have. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, your holiness!

Princess Pessimism said...

I read that too jenni...and found to to be an interesting contradiction. The DL is all for human rights, and developing deep respect for one another, blah blah blah...if that tends to include oral sex, then so be it. I agree with Tintin...i figured buddhism to be the most lenient religion in terms of honosexuality, or non-procreative sex, but it sounds like they're just as condeming as all the other religions out there.

I remember walking past the scientology building that one day with you...we should start our own following. Oh god...can you imagine? What shall our first order be? another pride parade??? Booing and Hissing those who dont condone free will?? Ideas???

Jennifer said...

OK, our new religion would condone doing all the things that people enjoy. And all our services would be big parties. And anyone who was intolerant would be excommunicated.

Princess Pessimism said...

ummm...but would that mean that we were being intolerant of intolerance??? how would that work? I dont want to be kicked out of my own religion....

Jennifer said...

love it! if anyone points that out, we'll excommunicate them.

Princess Pessimism said...

Ummm...was that my one "get out of jail free" card then??? Or am I out already??? =(

SS said...

The Dalai Llama at a Starbucks in Windsor -- I can see it.

Also, I agree with Ash -- you've gotta try the Green Tea Frappacino. So tasty =)

rawbean said...

By the way, on Saturday I went to Starbucks and ordered a Gingerbread Steamer (inspired by this post) and the guy said they didn't have any of those this time of year. I felt like saying "But Princess Pessimism got one!" Then I realized I sounded like I had an imaginary friend so I got a chai steamer instead. It was delicious.

Princess Pessimism said...

S.Subs - LOL!! Ya, its sort of hard to imagine though isnt it???

Rawbean - OHHH, you should have just gone to another one. They get the gingerbread at christmas time. Fortunate for me, not many people here drink them, so theres loads of gingerbread left for me....it must be the popular drink in Peg City.

Tokyo Tintin said...

tibetan buddhism absorbed many influences from tibet's original religion --called 'bön'. a lot of those influences have very interesting things to say about living and spirituality, but a lot of other things don’t have much to do with buddhism practiced in other countries.

there's a bit of an incorrect assumption in the west that the dalai lama is the be-all and end-all of buddhism, though really he's not. just like a japanese person might mistakenly think the pope was christianity's top dog, whereas in actuality, he's only the spiritual leader of catholics --a lutheran or russian orthodox person doesn't necessarily have any special feelings for ol' JP (oops, i forgot he finally died, i mean nazinger --oh, oops again!)

so, while the dalai lama may or may not have a problem with the gays, tens of millions of other buddhists think it's okay to be gay on avenue A.

Jennifer said...

Nazinger! Wahahahaha!
Love it! Love it!
A new term has just entered my lexicon.