By Jean Torkelson

DENVER, Saturday, May 31, 1997 (Rocky Mountain News) - The Dalai Lama arrived in Denver Friday to the Buddhist equivalent of a tumultuous welcome.

In a silence broken only by drumbeats, a phalanx of more than 100 fellow Tibetan exiles extended hands and white prayer scarves to their spiritual and temporal leader.

The Dalai Lama is spending the weekend in Colorado to attend conferences at Regis University and the Naropa Insitute in Boulder.

Taking their cue from the Tibetans, a silent and awestruck street crowd of several hundred strained to see the diminutive figure dressed in red robes, red socks and brown walking brogues.

Appearing relaxed, the 62-year-old monk stopped repeatedly to press flesh and tweak little kids, uttering over and over the formal Tibetan greeting, ''Tashi delek,'' meaning "auspicious day to you.''

Inside the Oxford Hotel, an official welcoming party of civic leaders waited to greet him on his first Colorado visit in 16 years.

Today he addresses young people at the annual Peace Jam Conference at Regis University. On Sunday, he participates in the Spirituality in Education Conferencve at the Naropa Institute in Boulder.

As always, a visit by the Dali Lama carries an undercurrent of urgency and anguish.

Driven out of Tibet in 1959 by invading Chinese Communists, Gejong Tenzin Gyatsho roamed the planet seeking political support, in the process becoming the moral conscience of the world.

His leadership is precious to the 130,000 Tibetans in exile in Europe and America. About 60 Tibetans live in the Denver metro area.

"Time is running out for us,'' said Pema Dechen Gorap, presdient of the Colorado Tibetan Association. "Human rights violations are getting worse.''

"The situation is very, very cirtical,'' the Dali Lama told the audience of dignataries, who included U.S. Rep. David Skaggs and state Sen. Tom Blickensderfer, R-Englewood.

"My concern is how to preserve and protect the Tibetan cultural heritage,'' he said. That heritage, he added, "is facing extinction.''

The Dali Lama also exercised his renowned sunny temperament. He mugged for kids, at one point throwing a playful punch at a little boy skittering across the floor with a camera.

Other times the Dalai Lama, who arrived on a commercial flight from New York, seemed like a world-weary traveler.

At some of the more florid greetings, the world's most famous Buddhist monk rolled his eyes upward in good-natured exasperation, followed by a gentle grin.

He drew roars of laughter from his fellow Tibetans when he thanked them for coming to see him on their day off.

Turning he serious, he reminded them not to become jaded by American comforts, according to the translator.

"It's important not to forget where you come from,'' he said.

"He is like a god,'' said Tenzin Namdol, 16, of Lakewood. "Sometimes when you stop thinking about things, he reminds you who you are.''