I met the Buddha the other day.  He came to the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills for a meeting with Hollywood celebrities and to offer his blessings on a new project about the life of Siddhartha Guatama, with the script written by the famous Vietnamese monk, Thich Nhat Hahn.  I was scheduled to help with the videotaping of the event but the main reason I went though was to receive a “darshan” which is a blessing one receives just by seeing a saint.

  Everyone was very nervous and excited with throngs of security guards scrutinizing everyones’ slightest move.  My camera bag was searched at least seven times and I had two security guards clinging to my side the whole time. 

  The anger and stress level at the hotel was peaking, a sharp contrast to Buddha’s eternal message of peace and harmony.  

  As the celebrities filed in for the cocktail hour preceding the event, I looked for the Buddha.  I wondered how much fanfare there would be with a man who has one the Nobel Prize for peace, who is the leader of one of the major world religions. 

  A group of monks arrived first with Thich Nhat Hahn and they were a breath of fresh air amid the stuffy supercilious aristocracy of the really good-looking, cool, charismatic celebrities that milled about clutching wine glasses, just being really good-looking, cool and charismatic.  

  A short while later it was announced that the Buddha, the Dalai Lama, had arrived.  There was such a rush and throng around him as he exited his limo and was hurried off to his hotel room that I was barely able to capture a second of footage.        

  Later, at the peace ceremony in the courtyard, monks gathered with the celebrities where everyone was given a lighted candle to toss into a fountain, representing our short lives on the planet and all the souls who have gone before us.  Something like that. 

  I stood wedged between Goldie Hawn and Sharon Stone.    Among all these celebrities, I felt about three inches tall.  At one point I thought Sharon Stone was going to pick me up and stuff me in her purse. 

  As the last few people extinguished their flames in the fountain, a monk offered me a candle.  I looked around uneasily, not sure if it was cool for me, who was working the event, to be a participant in the ceremony.  I took the candle anyway, laid my camera down and got in line behind Robert Downey Jr. and Laurence Fishburne, to snuff it out.  I was the last person to toss the candle in the fountain and gave a sigh of relief realizing everyone had already made their way into the banquet room leaving no one around to reprimand me for taking part in the ceremony when I should have been videotaping.  

  A panel was arranged in the banquet room led by the Dalai Lama.  When he finally entered the room, the Dalai Lama was humble and unassuming, constantly smiling and radiating love and peace even amid the pretentious gaze of the “in” crowd. 

  I was at the back of the room with my camera on a tripod, filming the event.  At one point the Dalai Lama looked directly at me.  I looked behind me to see if he was looking at someone else.  I didn’t see anyone.  I looked back and realized he was smiling.  I had no clue what this meant. 

  For a minute I got really self-conscious and thought he was concerned with me not rolling the camera, as I stood to the side of the camera and just let the tape roll, my arms folded in front of me.  I quickly unfolded my arms and put my hands on the camera, pretending to be focused on my work.  

  He offered a humble smile and I knew he didn’t care one iota if I was filming or not.  His expression seemed to convey he was a little bored yet amused by the whole affair.  Like these were children in a classroom waiting for story time.    

  I continued trying to look busy.  The Dalai Lama offered his blessing to the film project and gave a speech about the future challenges of the world spiritual community and working together with celebrities to spread the good word of peace as they are able to influence large groups of people around the globe, in these trying times. 

  This was probably the closest I would ever be to a great spiritual leader

  At the end of the event I was hoping there was a chance to meet and greet the Dalai Lama but he was ushered out quickly by a security team.  The celebs and other dignitaries rose quickly and split.  Soon I was left alone as I packed my camera gear.

  I gazed around the empty room placing my camera in the molded case.  Waiters collected empty plates and wine glasses.  Tables were cleared for the next event.  New table cloths were brought out.  Bus-boys threw dirty forks and spoons in a plastic basin.  A woman ran a dust roller over the carpet.  Outside the catering manager argued with someone about a validation stamp for the parking.  A loud motorcycle went by on Little Santa Monica Boulevard.  In fifteen minutes there would not be a trace that a great saint had been here.   

  The Dalai Lama was aware of all these details, and it was good.