[Following articles appeared in MSNBC on August 26, 1997 covering the recent trip made by Dan Haig and the company to Dharamsala to set up the Gangkyi (LAN) local area network. TS]

Soledad: You had the opportunity to have an audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. What did you talk about?

Dan Haig: He had some questions for us about the network that we were building and...

Soledad: Is he into technology?

Haig: He's fairly tech savvy. He knew what it was about. He wanted to know exactly what kind of communications this would allow.

Richard Schneider: He was interested in RealAudio for the radio program.

Haig: RealAudio is something that they're very interested in so they can have Tibetan-language broadcasts.

Soledad: We saw a photograph of Dalai Lama in 3D glasses. Explain?

Schneider: I have a 3D tattoo. That's the red-blue shift that you normally see in comic books or the old monster films. I designed a tattoo and had it applied. It just happened to work into the audience that we could get him to look at it, and he was quite amused actually. So were the other staff members that got to see it, including the private secretary and prime minister.

Haig: We talked for quite some time. He had some questions for us about the network that we came to set up, and then in turn he asked us if we had any questions. We asked him some questions about activism and nonviolence, where you can make a difference without busting somebody's head open.

Soledad: What he'd say to that? How can you make a difference without busting somebody's head open?

Haig: Well, he said that it's more important to have the motivation not to bust somebody's head open rather than to bust somebody's head open. In brief, you should really try and as he suggests is to every day when you wake up, just remind yourself that really, you're going to try to achieve things through nonviolent means. If it so happens that somebody jumps you, you hurt them defending yourself, well, you shouldn't really worry about it. That's my interpretation of his answer.

Soledad: OK, what else did you talk about?

Haig: I was able to present to him a gift from the elders of the Hopi Nation. The Hopi and the Tibetans have had some communication over the years with each other, and they seem to be related somehow. And they also are very nonviolent people, the Hopi. So they're networking with each other to see what kind of solutions they can come up with.

Soledad: Was the meeting with him just an incredible personal experience for you, because obviously this is an issue close to your heart?

Haig: It was amazing. I've been involved with Tibet issues for many years. I studied with a Tibetan gaishi, which is the equivalent of a doctor. He was my advisor, and through the Tibetans that you meet with and speak with, all hold the Dalai Lama in the highest regard. And to actually meet with him as a head of state and also the incarnation, the Tibetans say, of the Bodhisattva of Compassion was very incredible.

Soledad: How about for you, where you're not really going for a spiritual motivation, but really as the wire jockey.

Schneider: Well, I've read his works, I've seen him on television in interviews, and what do you say to the head of state? You know, you walk into his people, he's practically Christ. What do you say to Christ when you walk in the door? I was actually dumbfounded. He looked at me directly and said, "Do you have a question?" Can you start with someone else? Ari had a kind of interesting one. And this was all before the big to-do's locally.

Soledad: Ari is another member of team?

Schneider: Oh, I'm sorry. Ari Solomon. Yes, he was our graphic artist. He was also one of our Mac experts. Actually, most of us worked with a lot with Macs over there. Incidentally, the office of His Holiness runs exclusively on Macintoshes. So a little plug there.

But Ari asked him a question on how Tibetan Buddhism deals with homosexuality. And His Holiness went on and described different levels of human sexuality. But it basically came down to, in my opinion, if it's legal in your country and if it's what you believe, go with it.

Soledad: Really.

Schneider: Yes.

Soledad: Because obviously in San Francisco there was a lot of fallout about some remarks.

Schneider: I think that came from some staff members who were misinterpreted. Because what His Holiness said was, if that's what you want to do, and it's legal in your country, and that's what you believe, it's a personal choice.

Soledad: Anything he say surprise you? Take you back?

Haig: No, he stressed very greatly how close the people of Tibet are to extinction. And that was the message that was nearest and dearest to his heart. And what we were going there to do is to try and get this message out to the world. That's what the network was all about, to get the Tibetan people, the Tibetan communities as well as the government, to be able to communicate with the world and let the world know what is going on in Tibet. And he just stressed this repeatedly.

Soledad: Will you be heading back sometime?

Haig: I think so.

Soledad: Great, good.

Schneider: If they ask me to.