Dalai Lama in Washington, DC (Kalachakra)

Dalailama.com


Kalachakra for World Peace

Washington, DC: Last week, during the first three days of the Kalachakra (July 6-8), the Dalai Lama and the monks from Namgyal Monastery and senior lamas conducted rituals to prepare and consecrate the venue. These included chanting of prayers, the creation of a sand mandala [as shown below], and other rituals.

Creating a sand mandala symbolizing the universe

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From July 9-11, he gave preliminary teachings on Gyalsey Thokme Sangpo's 37 Practices of a Boddhisattva (laklen sodunma) and Kamalashila's The Middling States of Meditation (gomrim barpa). On July 12, the Kalachakra Ritual Dance was performed by the Namgyal Monastery monks.

Then from July 13-15, the Dalai Lama conferred the Kalachakra Initiation. Today, July 16, a long life empowerment (tsewang) and a ceremony offering prayers for the long life of the Dalai Lama will be performed. Kalachakra 2011 is organized by the Capital Area Tibetan Association (kalachakra2011.com).

Public Talk in Chicago, Illinois on July 17: The 14th Dalai Lama will give a public talk on "Bridging the Faith Divide" in the afternoon at the University of Illinois, Chicago (UIC) Pavilion organized by The Theosophical Society in America (dalailamachicago.com).

Discussion in Chicago on July 18: He will participate in a conversation with religious leaders on "Building Bridges" in the morning at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance organized by The Theosophical Society in America. More

• Kalachakra for World Peace 2011
• Kalachakra tickets
• Famous Faces at Kalachakra
• Obama to meet Dalai Lama at White House (AP)
• Obama urged to cancel meeting with Dalai Lama (UPI)
• China warns U.S. officials not to meet Dalai Lama (Reuters)
  
• AUDIO: A Ritual for World Peace (NPR)
• Danny Fischer welcomes Kalachakra
• July Eurozone Debt Summit (should be hint to DC)
  

Dose of Dalai Lama for $10,000 a pop

Janine Hill (sunshinecoastdaily.com.au)

China accuses the Dalai Lama (L), seen here with Richard Gere, of being a "splittist" [separatist] bent on dividing country (AFP/Getty Images/Stephen Chernin).

Tickets to the Dalai Lama’s visit to the Sunshine Coast have sold out, but a spare $1,000 or $10,000 [Australian dollars] will still buy some time in the presence of "His Holiness."

Maureen Walshe, director of the Chenrezig Institute of Buddhist wisdom and culture at Eudlo, said tickets at $50 and $35 for His Holiness’s June 16 visit sold out in February.

Benefactor packages, ranging from $1,000 for two people in the public teaching area to $10,000 for two people in the VIP area, plus a commemorative plaque and photo opportunity, remain available.

Ms. Walshe said Chenrezig had kept general ticket prices down to make the event affordable for as many people as possible.

“There are people who say we could have charged $100 a ticket, but that’s not what we’re about,” she said.

She said the $125,000 raised by general ticket sales covered the basic costs of staging the event, including a speaker’s fee.

Further money raised by the benefactors’ packages would help cover other costs, such as transport and security, she said. “We’ve just broken even,” she said. Ms. Walshe said two $10,000 packages had already been sold. More

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• New star steers Tibetan transition
• DHARAMSALA, India - When exiled Tibetan spiritual-cum temporal leader the Dalai Lama announced his retirement from political life in March, he had reasons to be optimistic that the torch of self-determination for his people would be carried forward by a younger generation. The timing to separate the religious mandate of the institution of Dalai Lama from its political one seemed to coincide with free elections in which a suave Harvard-educated [USA controlled?] lay intellectual was elected as the new prime minister.
• Tibetan student wins essay, offers advice to US students
• Dalai Lama to convene free forum in Brisbane, Australia
• How to draw a proper Yeti (abominable snowman)
• Sunshine Coast prepares for Dalai lama visit

Dalai Lama "won't seek rebirth"

The Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, in an interview with Taiwan television aired [in 2009], said he is in excellent health -- but won't seek reincarnation [rebirth]. In an interview with Taiwan's Formosa TV, which was conducted in India to mark the 50th anniversary of China's occupation of Tibet, the Dalai Lama said it would be up to the Tibetan people to decide if there should be a reincarnation after his death. Tibetan Buddhists believe the Dalai Lama to be the current incarnation of their supreme Buddhist leader, whose holiness has exempted him from the cycle of birth and death, and can instead be reincarnated of his own free will. More