His Holiness the Dalai Lama has become a familiar and well-loved representative of peace to millions around the world. He travels and teaches extensively, in both the East and West, and the demands for him are growing.

In 1982 His Holiness traveled for the first time to Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia. He spent three weeks visiting the major cities, teaching and meeting with thousands of people.

In the autumn, at the invitation of the FPMT and other groups, His Holiness taught for a month in Europe. He landed in Rome on September 27 and two days later met with His Holiness Pope John Paul II. This meeting seemed to capture the imagination of Catholic Europe and set the tone for the next month.

After Rome, His Holiness visited Barcelona, Granada and Bubión in Spain; Toulouse, Lavaur, Paris and Strasbourg in France; Milan, Pisa and Pomaia in Italy; and finally six cities in Germany.

The four FPMT hosts were Centro Nagarjuna in both Barcelona and Bubión, near Granada; Institut Vajra Yogini and Nalanda Monastery in France; and Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa in Italy.

Photographer during the European tour, American nun Thubten Yeshe, reports her impressions.

It was a bizarre mix – motorcades tearing through the cities of Europe, scenes from Driver, and the slow solitude of ancient monasteries; talks with Christian Milarepas who had been meditating alone for up to 40 years, and with politicians and intellectuals completely involved with the worldly aspects of contemporary society; lectures of over-flow crowds of devoted Buddhists, and press conferences and interviews that sought to draw His Holiness out on political issues.

But this was not a political trip. This was a journey to the West that would inspire people on a spiritual level, and forge cultural ties with the people of Europe. This was the 1982 European tour of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and the message was clear, from one stop to the next: we are all human beings, seeking happiness and an end to pain; we have the capacity, and the responsibility, to realize these goals for ourselves and others.

That inspiration was manifest throughout the trip in people’s responses to His Holiness. The old and dying clinging to him at a hospice near Pisa. Smiling pictures and double page spreads in Spain’s major dailies. Thousands cramming into the already overcrowded city halls. A peace award from a group of Italian school children. The radiant smiles of reclusive Catholic monks after hours of shared insights with this Buddhist monk. The mayor of a major European city to His Holiness after a private interview: “This has been the most important and moving day of my life.”

Sightseeing tours and walkabouts did not seem to be the way the Dalai Lama thought best to spend his time, and they were frequently rushed and cut short. However, in small intimate meetings with Christian monks, educators, philosophers and scientists he was most at ease, animated and deeply interested. These were moments of listening and often a profound sharing of wisdom. At the monastery of Sant’Anselmo in Rome, meeting with a group of monks – Eastern and Western Europeans, Americans, Asians – discussing monastic life and the ways the Church in Eastern Europe had found to co-exist with Communist governments. An interview with the speakers from the Universal Education conference in Pomaia in which His Holiness did the interviewing – looking for Western educational wisdom that he could apply to the Tibetan situation.

It was almost restful to arrive at the four Foundation centers in southern Europe after the hurly-burly of the rest of the tour. His Holiness spent a day at Nagarjuna’s retreat center which clings to the side of a mountain reminiscent of dry Himalayan peaks where the monasteries and retreats are indistinguishable from the rocky landscape. The Dalai Lama of Tibet seemed at home in this calm place; it was easy to let the imagination run and fantasies fill the mind.

“The sunshine that we had this morning was His Holiness; the rain that is pouring down now is you.” That was Sogyal Rinpoche in an introductory lecture before His Holiness gave the bodhisattva vows at Institut Vajra Yogini. Not merely a lecture, but an exhortation to “feel the Presence of The Presence, Kun-du Rinpoche,” His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Informed by Sogyal’s urging, we were most certainly in the presence the next day at that joyful ceremony. Who noticed hours of slogging, standing, kneeling in cold mud? Who minded indeed? The sun was shining.

The external wind and rain followed us to Italy, and there were times when we doubted that the tent would survive another night of storms. But, The Presence prevailed and in a fitting climax gave the rare Gyalwa Gyatso initiation to 500 soggy, but glowing, Buddhists. Having bestowed this wonderful gift, his Presence, His Holiness left us with the sun shining. Not just a few of us lingering in the Pisa airport long after his plane had gone wondering where we had been, and what was next.