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His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama
Born into a farming family in the simple village of Taktser, Tibet, in 1935, His Holiness was recognized as a two-year-old reincarnate Dalai Lama. In the following years, he enjoyed an extraordinary childhood, studying subjects far removed from an ordinary child's education, including philosophy, astrology, metaphysics, dialectics, and much more.
In his teenage years, His Holiness simultaneously engaged in a rigorous course of study for his Geshe (Doctor of Metaphysics) degree and assumed full responsibility for his people’s welfare as the leader of Tibetans. At the early age of fifteen, while immersed in rigorous study of religion and metaphysics, His Holiness was compelled by political circumstances to assume responsibility for Tibet's temporal and spiritual welfare. Thus began this Dalai Lama’s lifelong pattern of accomplishing, at once, extremely difficult achievements in multiple arenas requiring unusual flexibility, far-sightedness, and extraordinary dedication. After being exiled from his homeland in 1959 by the invasion of Chinese forces, His Holiness’ level of accomplishments exponentially increased, as he entered a new and larger arena of interaction with the world.
In the decades following this forced relocation from Tibet to India, His Holiness' compassionate activities expanded to include not only the challenges facing Tibetans, both refugees as well as those remaining behind in his homeland, but also the issues most deeply affecting all citizens of the globe. He continued to immerse himself in the widest array of subjects, including quantum physics and Western psychology. In a highly unusual and creative step, His Holiness initiated mutually respectful dialogues between religious leaders and scientists which ultimately led to the creation of the Mind and Life Institute, promoting cross-cultural scientific research and understanding.
Three major commitments stand out among His Holiness’ activities. The promotion of human values encompassing compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, contentment and self-discipline. His Holiness refers to these human values as secular ethics.
As a religious practitioner, His Holiness’ second commitment is the promotion of religious harmony and understanding among the world’s major religious traditions.
As the spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet, his third commitment is to safeguarding the welfare, on all levels, of the Tibetan people.
Among the achievements His Holiness has found most meaningful to him is his tireless promotion of interfaith understanding, His Holiness has continually created and maintained contacts within diverse religious communities, including the Jain, Christian, Jewish, Sikh, Hindu and Muslim faiths as well as with secularists. As he commented at a meeting of the International Association for Religious Freedom, “A society, which has many religions should also have many prophets and sources of refuge. In such a society it is very important to have harmony and respect amongst the different religions and their practitioners. We must distinguish between belief and respect. Belief refers to total faith, which you must have in your own religion. At the same time you should have respect for all other religions.”
All of this His Holiness has accomplished against a backdrop of more than a half century’s constant efforts in search of support for Tibetans. He is continually requested and agrees to give teachings around the world at all levels, as well as secular public talks. He grants countless newspaper and television interviews, and has written or co-authored a dazzling number and diverse array of books addressing many subjects.
His Holiness has been equally active in his exile home in India. Almost from the moment he arrived as a refugee in 1959, he has bent every effort toward preserving Tibet's heritage through preserving its spiritual heritage and encouraging educational excellence and governmental reform. In exile, His Holiness the Dalai Lama had the vision to lay the foundation for modern Tibetan democracy. Under his guidance and foresight, today, the exiled Tibetan government and the Tibetan refugee communities spread across India has evolved into a vibrant and representative electorate operating under a democratic charter. In Tibet, under the harsh policy of the Chinese government, Tibetan religion and cultural identities are threatened; among Tibetans living in exile, under the leadership of His Holiness, Tibetan religion, languages and culture thrives in the hundreds of monastic, cultural and educational institutions. His Holiness constantly stresses the importance of education for all, especially recognizing its essential importance as the foundation of well-functioning democratic societies.
Woven through all these activities has been His Holiness’s unwavering commitment to world peace. His compassionate stance forms part of a far-sighted plan offering a vision of how our world can commit, in order to save itself. “The fact of human interdependence is so explicit now,” he has said “[that] the only peace it is meaningful to speak of is world peace. Destruction of your neighbor is essentially destruction of yourself. Our future depends on global well-being.” His Holiness’s championship of non-violence has earned him international respect, along with the Nobel Peace Prize, the Congressional Gold Medal, and scores of honorary doctorates, among other tributes.
His tireless work toward creating harmony amongst intellectuals, religious groups, and nations makes the Dalai Lama uniquely suited to lead the Kalachakra for World Peace. The occasion of the Kalachakra for World Peace 2011 is made doubly auspicious by its start on the seventy-sixth anniversary of His Holiness’s birth.
His Holiness has commented on the Kalachakra, saying, “A large number of people will come together for a few days to concentrate. Because of this, I think some positive vibrations, perhaps at an invisible level, can happen...the participants, for some short moments, can experience some tranquility, some peace and satisfaction.”
What a fortunate confluence of circumstances that the time, one of turmoil and common confusion; the place, the capital of the free world; and the teacher, who embodies wisdom, compassion and skillful methods, are coming together to produce an event that can only benefit this country and have a positive effect which ripples throughout the entire world.
To learn more about His Holiness the Dalai Lama, go to www.dalailama.com
The Kalachakra for World Peace
For the first time, His Holiness the Dalai Lama will confer the ancient and profoundly meaningful ritual Kalachakra for World Peace in the capital of the United States, Washington, DC. The Kalachakra, open to all who wish to participate, has the power to benefit all beings on this planet. The Capital Area Tibetan Association welcomes you to join in this historic event, offered with the heartfelt motivation to inspire harmonious relationships and abiding peace in our hearts and in our world.
In commenting on the value of the Kalachakra, His Holiness stressed its immense potential to be of benefit:
“The initiation to the Kalachakra is one of the most important...because it takes everything into account: the body and the human mind, and the whole external aspect -- cosmic and astrological. We firmly believe in its power to reduce conflict and we believe it is capable of creating...peace of spirit and therefore peace in the world.”
The Kalachakra Tantra teachings date back to the time of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni (approximately 6th century BCE), who transmitted them to the king of the semi-mythical land of Shambhala . The purpose was to help the king and his 96 lieutenants unite Shambhala’s subjects against possible foreign invasion. Thus began the tradition of associating the Kalachakra teachings with the promotion of world peace and with large audiences. Since that time, the Kalachakra Initiation has been given by an unbroken succession of great masters, including revered figures such as Lama Atisha and Je Tsongkhapa, and continuing directly to the present Dalai Lama, who has offered this great ceremony to hundreds of thousands of eager participants around the world.
Prophecies state that the 25th century will be an era of particular strife in which fundamentalist elements will try to dominate the world, including the hidden land of Shambhala. At that time, Shambhala’s king, Rudra Chakrin, will vanquish these malevolent forces, while all those who have formed a connection with Kalachakra by receiving the initiation will be born among the victors. For this reason Kalachakra initiations have always been highly popular, the more recent of them drawing attendees from around the world.
Participants in the Kalachakra are generally divided into two categories: observers (the vast majority); and participants. While the latter commit to personal disciplines, involving daily practice, observers are welcome simply to watch the ritual, absorb what they wish of the teachings, and receive the blessing. All are welcome, each being free to accept this rich, sacred offering at the level he or she finds most comfortable.
Besides the preparatory teachings, the event includes a three-day empowerment process in which audience members visualize the Vajra Master (in this case HH the Dalai Lama) as the Kalachakra deity, and themselves reborn as his spiritual children. There follows the taking of Bodhisattva vows, along with a series of visualizations marking the rites of passage involved in attaining spiritual maturity.
Among the event’s most inspiring visual experiences is the making of the exquisite, colorful sand mandala by the monks of His Holiness’s personal monastery, Namgyal. This detailed work of sacred art, executed with utmost precision and related prayers, is a symbolic representation of the Kalachakra deity, his palace, and 721 surrounding deities. The Dalai Lama himself recalls that when, at the age of 18, he first saw the mandala, “I almost lost my balance just from looking at it...I was so moved that I choked with emotion.” It is supremely auspicious that in this time of demanding national and global challenges, His Holiness is conferring the Kalachakra empowerment in a location where local decisions affect multitudes around the world. All who are striving for inner growth and who wish to be part of furthering world peace are welcome.
For scholarly and detailed discussions of the Kalachakra, its history and its meaning, please enjoy looking at the website of our distinguished sponsors, Snow Lion Publications, with over 30 years of dedication to the preservation of Tibetan Buddhism.
www.snowlionpub.com/pages/kalachakrateachings.html
You will also find excellent material on the Kalachakra at the following sites:
www.wisdompubs.org/Pages/search_results.lasso
Tibet
Known as the roof of the world, Tibet has one of our world’s ancient civilizations with a recorded history of over two thousand years of distinct racial, cultural and linguistic heritage. Located at an average altitude of 13,000 feet above sea level, it lies at the heart of central Asia and has a total population of 6 million.
Historical Tibet is made up of the three provinces of Amdo, Kham and U-Tsang; with a land mass of 2.5 million square kilometers, it is larger than all Western Europe combined.
Until the mid 20th century, Tibet existed as independently, with its own national flag, currency, language and culture. For centuries, protected within the confines of its geographical boundaries, Tibet remained largely isolated from the outside world. The general way of life was primarily nomadic and semi-nomadic. The wisdom-heritage of Buddhism permeated and infused every aspect of daily life of the people across the land.
