The Dalai Lama -- HOLY INTERNAL CONFLICT ... Should I Bless TMZ???

It's not often someone asks such an enlightened question that it absolutely STUMPS the Dalai Lama ... but it happened yesterday -- when he was asked if he would bless TMZ!!

His Holiness -- or "Mr. Lama" as our photog put it -- was doing his thing at Georgetown University on Thursday when our guy politely asked if he would bless our office.

What ensues is 7 very awkward seconds in which one of two things happened -- either Mr. Lama didn't quite understand the question (a lost in translation sort of thing) ... OR, he couldn't figure out how to say "No."