Anant

For the past few years I've been super infatuated by the idea of visiting Dharamsala and listening to one of the Dalai Lama's teachings. He does a few each year and thousands of people from arround the world come here to see him. Beyond religion, there are so many things to learn from him. Here are few of my observations:

1) The Dalai Lama is incredibly social. I think it is a big part of his good health.
2) Tibetans had to adapt into a new world from Tibet into India. They have become very practical about life and are very adaptable in how they live. They still maintain their own culture in a beautiful way.
3) The lecture itself was about Emptiness as written about by Nagarjuna in "The Middle Way". It's complex and googling it can explain it far better than me.
4) I believe that the Dalai Lama understands that he may or may not be a 'chosen one'. Yet, the Tibetan culture understands the value of a symbolic leader and they value the continuation of that. I hope they continue that.
5) The Dalai Lama has the same intonation in speech as Obama. It's very captivating.
6) Educating someone from a very young age with very good teachers (the way the Dalai Lama was trained), can shape an individual completely. One can argue that the Dalai Lama was picked and groomed into the 'Dalai Lama'.
7) That smile and wave! The Dalai Lama's smile is so contagious! Oh and he's a funny dude too!

You can see the lecture schedule here:

https://www.dalailama.com/schedule

How to attend:
If you go for his teaching you need to go to the Security Office in Dharamsala (10 minutes walk from the temple) atleast a day in advance to get a ticket. You can show them Aadhar card or passport with a passport copy. It costs 10 rupees. You should then go to the monastary to 'reserve' your seat by writing your name on a piece of paper (brought yourself) and placing it on a mat on the ground with tape or stones. Make sure to bring a radio + headphones as well as most of the teachings are in Tibetan but are translated in real-time.

The Dalai Lama also meets a lot of people outside of his teachings. If you go to the temple, (preferably not around the time of the teachings), the people in the temple will direct you to where you can place a request to meet with the Dalai Lama. I heard that he loves to meet new people. They usually call back to give an appointment after 2-3 days. You might also be able to do this through email.