We’ve fantasized about having the Dalai Lama...

We’ve fantasized about having the Dalai Lama over for a home-cooked meal.

We would sit, like two cozy poker buddies, and talk late into the night about Life, with a capital L.

Nothing lightweight, we can assure you. We would go straight to the heavy stuff: What’s it like to be in the moment, every moment, for your entire life?

Does serenity get a little boring?

Are poets and angels the only ones left who really see the world?

And does he miss the mountains of Tibet? Does he see them, in his mind’s eye, every night just after the lights go out?

Our neighbors would gather on our front lawn and wonder who the guy was in the colorful, flowing robes, breaking bread right there before their eyes.

The air around our house would carry wonderful fragrances from surrounding orange blossoms and jasmine.

It would have to be a sumptuous feast, of course. You can’t serve Pollo Loco to one of the world’s major spiritual leaders.

He could listen to our Charlie Parker records.

“Divine,” he would say.

Then he would casually lean over and whisper. The merest blip to our ears. And everything would fall into place.

We would be free at last.

The UCLA Extension will present the Dalai Lama in a program called “The Spiritual Quest in the Modern World,” 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Royce Hall. Tickets are $55 and $95. For information, call (213) 825-2101.