Canadian Press, Toronto - The Dalai Lama bid farewell to thousands of followers Wednesday as he wrapped up more than two weeks of public appearances in Canada by completing an initiation ceremony into the spiritual practices of Tibetan Buddhism.
About 7,000 people, including dozens of robe-clad monks, attended the ritual to initiate hundreds of devotees that was marked by prayers, chants and teachings from the Tibetan spiritual leader.
Garbed in his traditional red, yellow and saffron-orange robes and wearing an orange visor, the 14th Dalai Lama sat lotus-style on an elaborately decorated gold-coloured throne, imparting his thoughts on the tenets of Buddhism.
As the scent of incense wafted from the stage, he encouraged devotees to continue to learn the lessons of the Buddha, saying that such an accomplishment would make his more than week-long visit to Toronto a success.
"You have expended a lot of efforts in attending and participating in this series of teachings," the Dalai Lama said through an interpreter. "All the energy we've spent together will not be wasted."
The 68-year-old spiritual leader also exhorted followers to continue to practise and spread the notion of peace and compassion, a message that has been the hallmark of his 2½-week Canadian tour.
But the gathering at the cavernous National Trade Centre was not all serious business, as the bespectacled Dalai Lama showed off his famed sense of humour, eliciting bursts of laughter from the crowd.
In one instance, he warned against the danger of monks in western countries being tempted by alcohol, a forbidden fruit for monastic followers. But he chuckled that "even monks once in awhile are allowed to touch alcohol" - a reference to dipping in a finger to bless the beverage.
Later Wednesday, the Dalai Lama oversaw the dismantling of a sacred mandala, an intricately constructed, circular sand mural used in the initiation service. In the final rite of the ceremony, the coloured sand was carried in urns to nearby Lake Ontario and poured into the water, allowing "the perfect peace" of the Buddha "to flow with it into the everyday world."
For Tina Petrova, a practising Buddhist, seeing the Dalai Lama in her hometown was summed up in one word: "Wow."
"I mean just to be in his presence, he feels like an ocean of love and peace and grace," said Petrova, who travelled to California in 1996 to hear the religious leader's teachings.
"He just instils in one a sense of deep calmness and serenity, and you can just feel his purity of heart."
Australian-born Karyn Steer came with her husband and toddler from their home in Montreal to hear the Dalai Lama, calling him "the most enlightened being on Earth at this time. He's everything."
The monk has headed a government in exile in Dharamsala, India, since fleeing Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against China, which has occupied the former country since 1951.
The Dalai Lama, who was to give a private audience Thursday to Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and Lt. Gov. James Bartleman before catching a flight to Paris, arrived in Vancouver on April 17 for his first visit to Canada since 1993.
He has since become the first Tibetan spiritual leader in history officially welcomed by a Canadian prime minister, been honoured and entertained by several of the country's luminaries and feted by celebrity devotees from south of the border, including Richard Gere and Goldie Hawn.
In Vancouver, thousands of people lined up for hours to hear sold-out addresses by the Dalai Lama, who shared the stage with fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Iranian rights activist Shirin Ebadi.
Longtime friends, the Dalai Lama and Tutu delighted the audience by teasing each other, giggling and waving across the stage.
Tutu, leader of the Anglican diocese of South Africa, acknowledged the Tibetan monk's celebrity status in the West.
"He is about one of a very few people who can fill Central Park in New York with adoring devotees who respond to him as if he were a pop star," Tutu said.
In a musical tribute to the religious icon hosted by Hawn in Vancouver, the Hollywood actress called his message of forgiveness, kindness and love "a fabulous cocktail for peace on earth."
During his four-day visit to Ottawa, local-born singer Alanis Morissette performed for the spiritual leader before an audience of 10,000, introducing the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize winner as a man of "vision, warmth, humour and grace."
But the highlight for supporters was their spiritual leader's meeting with Paul Martin, the first sitting Canadian prime minister to so honour the head of Tibetan Buddhism.
During their brief meeting, Martin and his guest avoided the hot-button issue of Tibetan autonomy within China and spoke instead about human rights in the region and elsewhere.
Martin, his neck draped with a white religious scarf presented by the Dalai Lama, praised the monk for encouraging "basic human values" in Canada and around the world.
The meeting drew the ire of Beijing, which considers the Dalai Lama a renegade separatist, and left Martin straddling a fine balance - asserting Canada's right to make its own decisions while being careful to limit any offence to China, Canada's fourth-largest export market.
Still, the Tibetan leader stressed repeatedly throughout his Canadian visit that he is not seeking independence for the homeland he fled 45 years ago. His goal is cultural and religious autonomy for Tibet within a stable, thriving China, he said.
In Toronto last week, he told reporters he is even willing to cede his title and authority should a democratically elected government be restored to Tibet.
But for Beijing to relinquish control of his mountain-encircled homeland seems the stuff of dreams. Not only is Tibetan Buddhism not recognized by China, even possession of the Dalai Lama's image is a crime.
For Tsering Youdon, a Tibetan-born mother of three from Anoka, Minn., seeing the Dalai Lama in Toronto was a blessing.
"He's my spiritual leader," she whispered as a child scampered at her feet. "He's like a god."
