Intrigued as I am by the creation of a new Buddhist centre in Helensburgh, it has to be said my own brush with that intriguing faith was, ahem, something of a mixed blessing.

In the days before he decided to trot the globe, His Holiness the Dalai Lama was normally only seen in a small village in North India where he and his supporters had fled after the Chinese government annexed Tibet.

Despite his geographical isolation he attracted worldwide followers through his brand of spiritual pacifism which preached meditation and non violence as a response to his neighbour’s aggression.

A Scotsman newspaper staffer at the time, I was friendly with one of his British adherents who invited myself and a photographer to travel to meet the great man in his home.

The journey was not without incident. A variety of aeroplanes culminating in one where a replacement engine would probably have come in the shape of a very strong elastic band.

A bit of a trek to the final destination including a stopover in a local inn where the running water seemed to favour the walls over the taps, and the electrical supply was on the vague side of intermittent.

I remember sitting there in the dark morosely struggling to open the tin of supermarket sustenance I’d packed for emergencies and trying to remember why I’d ever though this a good idea.

Finally, having been very thoroughly searched by his house guards, we were ushered into the presence of a very smiley, gracious man, with a rather disconcerting high pitched giggle.

The hour long interview over, we made the trek in reverse and I wrote it all up back at the ranch in Edinburgh. Then went out with friends for a celebratory meal.

Sadly I failed to pick up a first edition later that night.

Otherwise I would have noticed that due to a careless sub editor the first half of the story had been pasted up twice and gone to print rather than the whole saga. All those thousands of miles, all the preparations, and all readers got was a double dose of the same half saga.

To compound all of which, your man suddenly discovered the joys of world travel and began popping up in London, New York, Paris, and, yes, Edinburgh!

I went along to his Edinburgh lecture. I took a bus and a short stroll and reached the venue in 20 minutes. And listened to a smiley man with a high pitched giggle for an hour.

Just as well he’s special.