I’ve watched it three times and continue to chuckle. Hooray for the DL.

…cousin of mine was making a documentary,and waiting to film him in his house in Dharamsala, and as she looks round the living room, there’s only one book on display. And it ain’t the ‘Tibetan Book of the Dead’. It is of course ‘Tintin in Tibet’. Dalai Lama, totally for the win.

: D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juzhi_Yizhi#Gutei.27s_Finger

But speaking of the pitfalls of another language’s nuances, which I would have done on the relevant Language Log post if they hadn’t turned off comments for some reason, my favourite black T-shirt is one Amnesty International Australia used to sell which featured, next to a nice silhouette of the relevant insect, this quote from the Dalai Lama: “If you think you are too small to make a difference – try sleeping with a mosquito.”

“Ahhh,” said the cashier. “True change only comes from within.”

For instance, HHDL is a huge Star Trek fan. I met a writer once who had interviewed him and said they ended up talking about Star Trek for an hour. He said it was surreal. HH showed him a picture of his monks standing in the transporter room at Universal Studios.

But he never misses an opportunity for spreading the dharma. When the man I met asked him about the culture of ST being more advanced and utopian, using the prime directive as an example, the Dalai Lama replied: “On that show… still many very interesting weapons. Not so different than we are now, I think.” Followed by a very warm smile, I was told.

TDL knows what pizza is. He may be a little unfamiliar with western misconceptions regarding Tibetan Buddhism or his english might not be strong enough to get these types of plays on words.