The Dalai Lama
On Monks Who
Fly

Q: I first read about Tibet in John Blofeld's book, The People Flew. Did you ever see anyone flying in Tibet?

The Dalai Lama: No, but one thing surprised even me. One elderly nun who lives now in Dharamsala told me that when she was young, she spent a few months at a mountain place quite near Lhasa. She met there an elderly practitioner, around eighty years old, living in a very isolated area. She discovered he was the teacher for around ten disciples, and two monks among them were flying through the air off one side of the mountain. Now you see, they would fly using this part...

[Holding up his robes. The Fourteenth Dalai Lama demonstrates how Tibet's legendary monks spread their wings and took flight.]

Q: Like a hang glider.

The Dalai Lama: Yes, you see, she said they could fly one kilometer, with their arms out like this. She told me last year that she actually saw it. I was surprised, very surprised.

--- From "Inside Out:
The Dalai Lama
Interviewed by
Spalding Gray,"
Tricycle Magazine,
Fall, 1991