The Dalai Lama was in Albany today and gave a prayer before the State Senate's session today. PolitickerNY reports that His Holiness the Dalai Lama said, "Compassion will guide more of our activities in way that they become constructive. Compassion will bring us in step with more confidence, and inner peace of mind. That's extremely useful for our character."
According to the Daily Politics, Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos greeted him with, "We have a wonderful democratic process here in this country. Some days it's a little less democratic than others. You protect the interests of minorities in Tibet. Certainly, we ask that you pray for this minority." The Dalai Lama showed his sense of humor by replying, "I usually side with the minority, so my sympathy would be more the Republican side," which brought GOP members to their feet (the Dalai Lama made sure to add, "That's a joke - not serious").
The Dalai Lama's trip was rescheduled from an earlier date because of controversy around the group that sponsored his visit. Daily Intel described NXIVM as "basically like Scientology masquerading as a self-help seminar, run by a guy named Keith Raniere. Raniere claims to have the highest IQ on record and have been a judo champion by age 11; he also demands to be called Vanguard by his followers." NXIVM, which some critics call a cult, operates out of Colonie, near Albany.
