We flew over 10,000 km from Canada to Dharamshala, a small mountain town in Northern India, to meet one man: the 14th Dalai Lama. After three days of rejection, dozens of emails, and a final morning standing in a public blessing line at 6:20 a.m., we got our moment with him. We asked the question we ask everyone: what advice would you give to a young person today? He looked at Will carefully and said, "Lead life with a warm and kind heart. And when you get older, stop trying to be so cunning." Then he laughed. Then he placed his head against Will's. Then he blessed us.
This is the story of how we got there.
Why We Travelled 10,000 km To Meet The Dalai Lama
For those who don't know, the Dalai Lama is one of the most influential spiritual leaders in the world. For Buddhists and believers across the globe, he is recognised as a beacon of hope - a symbol of non-violence, peace, and equality. The 14th Dalai Lama was identified by a search party at just two years old and has since become the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism. He is now 88.
At Sprouht, we've spent the last few years travelling the world to interview the oldest, wisest, and most spiritually grounded people we can find. We've sat with former prime ministers, billionaires, longevity experts, and centenarians. But interviewing the Dalai Lama felt like the impossible one. His office had stopped granting interviews. He's 88. He no longer sits down with media in any traditional format.
So we did what we always do: we showed up anyway.
What People Are Looking For In Dharamshala, The Dalai Lama's Home In Exile
Dharamshala sits in the foothills of the Himalayas. In the 1950s, most of the Tibetan monks were chased out of Tibet by the Chinese, and they relocated as refugees to this valley in Northern India. Today, it is where the Dalai Lama lives and where most exiled Tibetan Buddhists now reside.
What we noticed within hours of arriving is that we weren't the only ones who'd travelled a long way to find something here.
The town is full of foreigners - tattoos, accents, faces that, as Will put it, "scream I'm here to find myself." We stopped them on the street and asked why they'd come. One man from Spain told us he was 39 and had come alone to learn Thangka, a form of Tibetan Buddhist devotional art. A woman in her 50s told us she felt like she'd been "sleeping" in her old life and had only recently woken up. Another man, on his eighth trip to India, was openly searching for spirituality and self-knowledge.
Pull quote: "They're not here sightseeing. They're looking for themselves. It sounds cheesy, but it's true."
That's when we realised the story wasn't just about meeting the Dalai Lama. It was about why so many people travel across the world to be near him in the first place.
What Buddhist Monks Told Us About The Dalai Lama
Before we got close to the Dalai Lama himself, we spent time with the people who know him best: the monks and nuns who live and study in his monastery.
We volunteered at LIT, a program where locals help monks practice English conversation. The monks asked us philosophical questions for fun. One of the older monks told us his biggest life lesson, in a moment that stayed with us, was that the old lamas in Tibet had spent all of their money on the monasteries and the Dharma - and that, in hindsight, they should have had an army.
We also spoke to a Buddhist nun who told us she'd been a traveller in Australia, started volunteering at a Vipassana centre, and felt called to dedicate her entire life to preserving "this ancient wisdom." She became a nun shortly after and said she's never looked back.
When we asked what the Dalai Lama means to them, the answers came back the same way every time.
Pull quote: "He's our Saviour. He's our God. He is our spiritual leader. When you're in the presence of the Dalai Lama, there's a different aura."
One monk told us the Dalai Lama's biggest gift to the world - especially to non-Buddhists in the West - is reminding people that "the resources for our own happiness and mental well-being lie within us." He said modern societies are too fixated on external conditions: politics, status, systems. The Dalai Lama, he told us, keeps pointing back inward.
"Lead Life With A Warm And Kind Heart" - The Dalai Lama's Advice To Young People
For three days, we kept getting turned away.
We went to the office. It had closed ten minutes before we arrived. We came back. We were told the Dalai Lama no longer grants interviews of any length. We emailed. We finessed. We came back again. Eventually, a member of his staff explained that the only way we'd be able to see him was through a public blessing line - which he doesn't do often, can't be filmed, and required us to be on-site at 6:20 a.m. the next morning.
We took it.
The next morning, we went through thorough screening. Phones, cameras, anything electronic - all locked away in a box. We stood in line in a quiet room, waiting for our turn. Because of the back-and-forth with his team over the previous days, we got the chance to go first and to ask one question.
Will asked the question we ask every guest on Sprouht: if you could give one piece of advice to someone young today, what would you say?
The Dalai Lama looked at him carefully. Then he answered.
Pull quote: "It's important to lead life with a warm and kind heart. And when you get older - stop trying to be so cunning."
Then he started to laugh. The whole room laughed with him. He put his forehead against Will's, thanked him, and blessed him.
It was over in three minutes. We'd travelled 10,000 km for three minutes. And it was worth every one of them.
Frequently Asked Questions About Meeting The Dalai Lama
Can you meet the Dalai Lama in person?
Yes, but it is increasingly difficult. The 14th Dalai Lama is now 88 and no longer grants traditional interviews. The most accessible way to meet him is through a public blessing audience at his temple in Dharamshala, India. These audiences are not held on a regular schedule, are not filmed, and require advance coordination with his office.
Where does the Dalai Lama live?
The Dalai Lama lives in Dharamshala, a mountain town in Northern India. He has lived there in exile since fleeing Tibet in 1959 after the Chinese government took control. Most of the global Tibetan Buddhist community now resides there as well.
How old is the 14th Dalai Lama?
The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is 88. He was identified as the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama at age two and has been the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism for over 80 years.
What is the Dalai Lama's main teaching?
The Dalai Lama's central teaching is that lasting happiness comes from within - through compassion, kindness, and a calm mind - rather than from external conditions like wealth, status, or politics. He often tells audiences that the key to wellbeing is "the way in which we see the world."
What advice does the Dalai Lama give to young people?
When we asked the Dalai Lama what advice he would give to a young person today, he answered: "Lead life with a warm and kind heart. And when you get older, stop trying to be so cunning." His core message to younger generations is to prioritise compassion over cleverness.
What We Took Away
What stays with us isn't just the advice. It's the laugh.
A man who has spent his entire life being treated as a god, by some of the most devoted believers on Earth, told a stranger from Canada to lead with kindness - and then teased him about being too cunning. He didn't lecture. He didn't perform. He pointed at something most of us already know but choose to forget.
You can be smart. You can be ambitious. You can chase the thing. But if your heart isn't warm, none of it will land the way you want it to. And the older you get, the more obvious that becomes.
We came home from Dharamshala with one sentence and a lot of silence around it. Some advice doesn't need explaining.
