A long train of followers travels with Dalai Lama

WASHINGTON — The official oracle couldn't make it; he's in Los Angeles. But much of the Dalai Lama's unusual entourage is with the Tibetan spiritual leader for his Washington visit.

The monk/molecular geneticist known as the "happiest man in the world"? Here, and apparently quite happy.

Celeb-Buddhist Richard Gere? Of course.

Beefy Tibetan bodyguards? In the front row.

The Dalai Lama often calls himself a "simple monk" but runs with a crew far from simple. Even his longtime translator, Thupten Jinpa, is a Cambridge philosophy Ph.D. who left monkhood for marriage and now researches compassion and something called "neuroeconomics."

The Dalai Lama's small, male and mostly Tibetan inner circle includes diplomats, political operatives, monk attendants and personal assistants who do everything from shopping for his shoes to preparing liturgical items for religious ceremonies.

Then there are the further-out rings of people a Dalai Lama visit attracts: monks and lamas from across the country, Tibetan exiles, science students, human-rights activists, hippies, wannabe hippies and recovering hippies.

The groupies trail after the man English-speakers call His Holiness — or HH in internal communications — and Tibetans often call "kundun" or "the presence," or another term meaning "the precious one."

The backstage chitchat at Dalai Lama events can sometimes sound almost surreal, with statuesque blond relief workers trading notes on great Italian food in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The Dalai Lama contributes to the be-in atmosphere. In public, he is lighthearted and often informal, holding people's faces, chucking their chins, kissing their heads and chuckling, Barney Rubble-style.

But his inner circle puts off a far more somber vibe. They focus on the most serious aspects of the missions, which include Tibetan freedom and world enlightenment.

Gere, a longtime ally of the Tibetan leader's, can barely contain his impatience when questioned about life within the entourage. "I can't believe you're asking me that," the actor said.

A slice of the scene was on display last week at the Park Hyatt in Georgetown, where members of the Dalai Lama's inner circle hang out in the chic bar after long days of high-level meetings, awards ceremonies and conferences.

But even the schmoozing amid the hotel bar's wheatgrass bouquets and techno music is apparently serious. "I'm the only social animal," confides Jinpa, the Dalai Lama's British-accented translator, who wears jeans and a sweet smile.

As for the Dalai Lama, he doesn't step foot in the bar. He barely eats dinner and goes to bed extremely early so he can get up between 3 and 4 a.m. to meditate for several hours.

He doesn't require an elaborate shrine room to help him concentrate, said Matthew Pistono, a Tibet scholar who has accompanied U.S. congressional delegations to meet the Dalai Lama. "I've seen him in his bathrobe, no regalia. He just puts his feet beneath him and that's it. His simplicity shines through."

One adviser and translator is famous in his own right. Matthieu Ricard, the son of a famous French philosopher, left a career in genetics to become a monk. Ricard is now a best-selling author on happiness and is well-known for scoring off the charts as a subject in neurological studies about happiness, meditation and the brain. Ricard's smile was a fixture at the two-day "mind and life" conference Thursday and Friday in Washington.

Absent from this visit was Thupten Ngodup, a monk in his 50s who is referred to as the "official oracle" of Tibet. Followers believe he was picked by a centuries-old oracle to be its medium and offer advice to the Dalai Lama and other important figures by going into a dramatic, chilling trance. Buddhists who have seen him — or videos of him — say that when he's in a trance his body shakes, his face doubles in size and he speaks in a high-pitched hiss.

Hopkins said the Dalai Lama values the oracle for his conservative political advice, though he doesn't necessarily feel compelled to follow his counsel. "It's not like everything is swallowed," he said.

Ngodup, who lives near the Dalai Lama in India, made a stop in Washington last week but then headed to New York and Los Angeles to perform rituals, conduct teachings and raise money for a small foundation he runs.

"He had a couple friends he wanted to see," said Pistono, who saw him when he breezed through town.

Even an oracle needs some time off.