The Pocket Dalai Lama

Begin quote from "The Pocket Dalai Lama" published by Shambala Pocket Classics.
"In the late 1980s when I first became dimly aware of the plight of Tibet, it was actually the prospect of an audience with His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama which sent me off to his place of exile in Dharmsala, North India, to investigate the possibilities of a book. Tibet was a virtually unknown quantity as far as I was concerned, but the chance of an audience was too good to miss. Though I expected little more than an exchange of plattitudes, I was curious to meet this exotic figure, who in my limited imagintation, would come straight out of Shangri La by way of Lost Horizon.

Little did I realize that this visit would turn me upside down and inside out. I returned home filled with fury, pity and disgust for the sufferings of the Tibetans at the hands of their Chinese conquerors--and determined to tell the world what had been done to them. As for what the Dalai Lama, within minutes of meeting him, I found myself reflecting that here was the most human human being I had ever met. Along with a luminous simplicity and warmth he radiated serenity and a deep inner peace. He had that rare gift of speaking directly to the human heart and evoking a response. In their different ways, this and my subsequent encounters with him were life enhancing." end quote. from pages vii and viii from the introduction.

My personal experience with the Dalai Lama was quite different. I had met a Geshe Lobsand Gyatso in Santa Cruz, California. He had come to help Lama Yeshe pass over and to reincarnate as Lama Oso. Geshela had said he would be in Bodhgaya in India in late December 1985 and to visit him there if we came to Asia. While snorkeling of an island called Koi Samed off Thailand I meditated about whether we should cut our Thai portion of the trip short after one or two weeks and fly to Nepal and drive to India by Car(in Nepal) and by Bus in India. I got it from the universe that to leave then to meet Geshela was the highest good that could come from this situation so we did this. So when we arrived to meet Geshela we had no idea at the time that 500,000 Tibetan Buddhists would be there in native Dress from Tibet, Sri Lanka, Nepal, India, Bhutan etc. or that the Dalai Lama would be there to initiate the 500,000 people into the Kalachakra initiation that has to do with Shambala.(Shangri la is the fictionalized concept of Shambala whereas the Kalachakra initiation is the real thing). It was given as a four day initation and was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Though we had no idea at the time what it was, Geshela recommended that the 5 members of my family receive it. We met Tibetans that had walked for 6 months out of Kham, Tibet just to receive this initiation, knowing full well that the Chinese would never let them return home after having left Tibet.

His Oneness, a character in my "Memories" series of books is patterned after the King of Shambala and came from my experiences past, present and future. Though Arcane and Elohar and Lord Fire(on Atlantis) were all written before I had this initiation I did not write of His Oneness until after this initiation and most of the subsequent writings on this subject were after this initiation.

The four months my family and I spent in India and Nepal permanently changed us all in many ways in which I cannot formally explain. However, I can say that nothing physically or spiritually prepared me for what the world economically or spiritually is going through the past few years more than those four months in India and Nepal from December 1985 until April 1986.