Dalai Lama -- How To Guilt A Jet Company Into a Freebie

There's a reason the Dalai Lama preaches against people seeking riches ... he doesn't have to because he gets lots of freebies ... and not without a dose of guilt.

Dalai's camp tried to squeeze a private jet company into giving him a free jet ride or at the very least a STEEP discount.

Here's what we know. The Dalai Lama was in L.A. last Friday and needed to fly to Minneapolis. His people contacted ZephyrJets to book a flight.

Dalai's people sent an email to ZephyrJets, saying another jet company flew their leader from San Francisco to L.A. gratis, and they wanted to see what Zephyr could do for them on the next leg.

The email says they were asking "a few friends" if they could get a jet for free, but they wanted a backup plan in case the friends didn't come through. They made it clear they didn't want to pay the $44K price tag.

In another email -- sent before their freebie pitch -- Dalai's people greased the wheels with Zephyr by playing the Lama card: "Yes the Dalai Lama will be very grateful."

We don't know how the Dalai Lama got to Minneapolis or what, if anything he shelled out. But it sounds like it was a divine flight.