Washington DC, USA, 6 July 2011 - His Holiness the
Dalai Lama left the hotel for the Verizon Center, venue of the
Kalachakra teachings, early in the morning to begin the preparatory
prayers. The Board of the Capital Area Tibetan Association received him
on his arrival at the Center. After the ceremonial Mandala offering,
His Holiness began his prayers.
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His Holiness the Dalai Lama leads
Earth Ritual Prayers on the first morning of the Kalachakra for World
Peace in Washington DC on July 6, 2011. Photo/Tenzin Choejor/OHHDL
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In the course of it His Holiness briefly addressed
the audience about the background of his relation with the Kalachakra
Initiations. He said he had received the empowerment first in 1954 at
the Potala Palace in Lhasa from Kyabje Ling Rinpoche, his Tutor.
Subsequently, he had bestowed the Kalachakra twice while in Tibet. After
coming to India in 1959 His Holiness said the first time he gave the
teachings then was the one in Dharamsala (in March 1970). His Holiness
shared with the audience an “interesting dream” that he had at the
conclusion of the initiation in Dharamsala. He said that he dreamt about
the process of the dismantling of the Mandala and that he was sitting
in the center of the Mandala. Calling it an auspicious dream, His
Holiness added that he took this as auguring he would be bestowing the
initiation many times thereafter. He added that the current empowerment
would be his 31st Kalachakra empowerment.
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His Holiness the Dalai Lama giving a
short teaching on the first morning of the Kalachakra for World Peace
in Washington DC on July 6, 2011. Photo/Tenzin Choejor/OHHDL
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Talking about the two preliminary teachings on
37 Practices of a Bodhisattva and Stages of Meditation, His Holiness
said in a lighter vein that he indulged in a little bit of deception.
Given the attraction of the Kalachakra to the people he took to
announcing such an initiation so that many people would turn up. But he
said his main focus would be on the preliminary teachings that touched
on the deeper understanding of Buddhism. His Holiness joked that he if
announced just a Buddhist teaching, he said many Buddhists might tend to
think that they know about Buddhism and not come.
Following a break, the program to celebrate the 76ths birthday of
His Holiness the Dalai Lama, which fell today, began. Organized by the
Office of Tibet in New York, this program was moderated by Mrs. Tencho
Gyatso (of the International Campaign for Tibet). She said that
Mathatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were two illustrious
personalities whose lives continue to inspire His Holiness the Dalai
Lama. She then invited everyone to join her in welcoming Mr. Martin
Luther King III, the son of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Mr. Arun
Gandhi, the grand son of Mahatma Gandhi, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama
to the stage.
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Tibetan Children from the Capitol
area perform during celebrations in honor of His Holiness the Dalai
Lama's 76th birthday in Washington DC on July 6, 2011.
Photo/Tenzin Choejor/OHHDL
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The program then began with a song “Topay
Luyang” praising the qualities of His Holiness, sung by young members of
the Capital Area Tibetan Association. Thereafter, representatives of
some of the communities, including Indians, Mongolians, Japanese,
Chinese, Bhutanese, Vietnamese, Tibetan, people from the Himalayan
region of Nepal as well as Caucasian Americans and others greeted His
Holiness, symbolizing the universal reverence and respect that he
enjoys. At the end, Kasur Alak Jigme Lhundup presented the first copy of
a book titled "Jigten Migpe" featuring a comprehensive collection of
photos from His Holiness’ life. He released the book, published by
Dhomey Tsengol Dhengyab Nadel, and offered a copy each to Mr. King and
Mr. Gandhi.
Thereafter, Mr. Kalden Lodoe, President of the Capital Area Tibetan
Association, which is the organizer of the Kalachakra for World Peace
teachings, made welcome remarks. He began by offering birthday
greetings to His Holiness the Dalai Lama on behalf of everyone attending
the teachings.
He said, “Throughout his life, His Holiness has tirelessly dedicated
his life to the promotion of universal human values, religious harmony
and the issue of Tibet. At a time of escalating global tensions and
conflicts, it is our fervent belief that the conferment of Kalachakra by
His Holiness here in Washington, DC will renew and reinforce the shared
basic human values; universal love, compassion and world peace.”
Mr. Lodoe then gave a background on how the Capital Area Tibetan
Association came to request the teaching and how the immense challenges
were faced. He announced that there were people from 48 countries and
five continents who were attending the teachings.
He concluded by saying, “…we humbly want to offer our work on this
great event as an expression of gratitude to the government and the
people of the United States and to all those around the world who have
so kindly supported the preservation of Tibet’s rich culture, spiritual
heritage and distinctive identity over many years. Your kind and
generous commitment has enabled Tibet’s unique wisdom – heritage to
survive, and spread, and take root in all parts of the world.”
He ended with a recitation of a prayer for the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
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Arun Gandhi, Kwame Brown and Martin
Luther King III meet with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Washington DC
on July 6, 2011. Photo/Tenzin Choejor/OHHDL
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Thereafter, Mr. Kwame Brown, Chairman of the
Washington, D.C. City Council, made a formal welcome to His Holiness to
the city. He thanked His Holiness for speaking out on injustice in
Washington, D.C. He said His Holiness gave inspiration to students of a
school in the city as also a homeless shelter that he had visited some
time back. He said His Holiness brought the message of peace to the city
and presented a City Council Resolution to His Holiness recognizing and
honoring his commitment to Tibet and the unparalleled global impact of
his message of peace and democracy. The resolution was “To honor and
recognize His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, for his
tireless commitment to world peace, non-violence, human rights,
religious freedom, and democracy. Full text of the resolution given
below.”
His Holiness thanked the Chairman and also offered him a copy of the illustrated biography.
Thereafter, a touching video message from Archbishop Desmond Tutu
was screened. In it, the Archbishop talked about the positive impact of
His Holiness to the international community and how people could commit
themselves to doing something good to celebrate His Holiness’ birthday.
Mr. Arun Gandhi was invited to make his remarks next. He began by
wishing His Holiness on behalf of the Gandhi family. He then shared one
of the lessons that he had learned from his grandfather about peace,
namely that it pertains not only to physical violence but alto to
non-physical or passive violence. Passive violence is something that
some times we even fail to recognize as violence. He talked about the
danger of passive violence that Mahatma Gandhi often highlighted.
He invited everyone to join him in giving “the most profound
birthday gift” that that all of us can give to His Holiness today is to
pledge that we will no longer hate, we will no longer discriminate, we
will no longer be greedy, that we will always respect each other
irrespective of their religion or their philosophical pronouncement that
they will love and try to bring peace for this world for the future
generation.
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His Holiness the Dalai Lama with
Arun Gandhi, and Martin Luther King III during celebrations in honor of
His Holiness's 76th birthday in Washington DC on July 6, 2011.
Photo/Tenzin Choejor/OHHDL
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Mr. Martin Luther King III began by referring
to His Holiness as a spiritual leader who is revered by the people of
his beloved homeland, Tibet and by people all over the world as the very
embodiment of compassion.
He recalled his mother, Coretta Scott King, writing in 1989 after
hearing the announcement of the Nobel Peace Prize to His Holiness that
“The Dalai Lama has been a clarion voice for nonviolence and freedom …
one of the planet’s great spiritual leaders, and the breadth and depth
of his concerns embrace the future of all human kind.”
Mr. King said, “If we embrace the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi,
Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Dalai Lama, we can tap the power of the
telecommunications revolution to build a global network of
mutually-supportive people dedicated to nonviolent action for peace and
social justice.”
He added, “Today we celebrate the luminous example of courage and
dedication to peace and goodwill you have provided, and we draw hope and
inspiration from your continued visionary leadership.“
Thereafter, His Holiness made his remarks. He began by sharing with
the audience the traditional Tibetan culture of treating death
anniversaries as being more important than birthdays. This was rational
because he said by the time someone passes away we would know whether
the individual has made positive or negative contributions. Whereas,
wishing happy birthday to a person who subsequently may end up being
negative did not make sense.
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His Holiness the Dalai Lama
addresses the audience during celebrations in honor of his 76th birthday
in Washington DC on July 6, 2011. Photo/Tenzin Choejor/OHHDL
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His Holiness then reiterated his basic belief
and the message of the Buddhist teaching that if an individual can help
others, everyone possible should be done to make it so. However, if help
cannot be rendered then the individual could at least restrain from
harming others, he said. He said that such an approach would help in
leading a meaningful life.
His Holiness referred to the birthday message by his “spiritual
elder brother” Archbishop Desmond Tutu and shared with the audience how
the two enjoyed teasing each other, which was missing from the video
message, he said. His Holiness said that it was his hope to join
Archbishop Tutu in South Africa during his birthday in October.
His Holiness said that he had never met Mahatma Gandhi or Martin
Luther King Jr but that he admired their direct concern for their
respective communities and indirectly to humanity. His Holiness added
that he not only admired but also worked to carry on their spirit to
promote nonviolence.
His Holiness said in the presence of the two distinguished guests he
wanted to place on record his commitment to the promotion of human
values and the promotion of religious harmony. He said that today the
fact that Mr. Arun Gandhi, a Hindu, and Mr. Martin Luther King III, a
Christian, coming together to celebrate the birthday of a Buddhist was a
strong message of religious harmony.
His Holiness expressed his gratitude to the people from the
different communities coming to greet him saying that most of them were
from areas that had historical relationship with Tibet.
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Members of the Tibetan community
from differing regions of Tibet offering birthday greetings to His
Holiness the Dalai Lama in Washington DC on July 6, 2011. Photo/Tenzin
Choejor/OHHDL
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His Holiness also praised the Tibetan children
for their song saying their singing was good and joked as to how many
hours they may have wasted in preparing for this. His Holiness
underlined the need for education here saying that there was the need
for education of the brain as well as for the development of warm
heartedness.
Thereafter, His Holiness switched from speaking in English to
speaking in Tibetan to directly address the Tibetans who have gathered
in the Verizon Center as well as many others, including in Tibet, who
were watching the direct broadcast (by Voice of America’s Tibetan
service as well as over the internet).
He referred to the existing Tibetan feeling of a common identity
irrespective of where they were living and stressed on the need to
preserve and promote Tibetan linguistic tradition, which has been there
from the time of the religious kings. Along with the preservation of the
traditional language there was the need to pay attention to modern
education.
His Holiness advised the Tibetans to study Buddhism more deeply
rather than being concerned with the ritual aspect. He said the people
needed to be 21st century Buddhists.
His Holiness also expanded on the recent devolution of his political
authority to an elected leadership saying that this was a positive
development. He said through the recently held election process, a new
Kalon Tripa has been elected, who is from the younger generation, born
in India, with a wholesome education. He said this successful
devolution of authority has challenged the Chinese assumption that the
Tibetan issue is dependent on one individual. He said it has become
clear that the political process will continue irrespective of whether
the Dalai lama was there or not. His Holiness said from around the age
of 14 or 15, he had very keen interest in democracy and while in Tibet
he had made efforts towards democratization by establishing reforms
commission around 1952-53. But after coming into exile he was free to
implement his thinking and thus the Tibetan democratic process has been
developing over the years. He said the time has come for the elected
Tibetan leadership to take real responsibility.
His Holiness also explained that his move at devolution of authority
was not because he had become demoralized. Rather, it was another
process in the democratization of the Tibetan society. His Holiness
also said that the change in the way of referring to the Central Tibetan
Administration in Tibetan was to be more transparent and not to
indicate any closure of the Administration.
Kasur Lobsang Nyandak Zayul, Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama for the Americas, gave the concluding remarks.
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His Holiness the Dalai Lama waves
to the audience at the conclusion of celebrations in honor of His
Holiness's 76th birthday in Washington DC on July 6, 2011.
Photo/Tenzin Choejor/OHHDL
|
He said, “20th century is generally perceived
as a century of war and violence, when tens of millions of people had
died a violent death. The same century, however, also witnessed
outstanding apostles of peace and non-violence, who brought freedom and
justice to millions of subjugated peoples the world around.
“Amongst those apostles of peace is Mahatma Gandhi, the father of
great Indian nation, who is represented here by none other than his
grandson Arun Gandhi. Your presence here has made this occasion a
memorable day. On behalf of the organizers of this event, people who are
gathered here, and also on behalf of Tibetans inside Tibet who have no
freedom to celebrate the birthday of HH, I extend our heartfelt
gratitude to you.
“Another historical apostle of peace is Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.
whose name is in the hearts of all those who care about peace,
non-violence and who care about freedom and social justice.
“We are immensely grateful to Martin Luther King, III, the second
child of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for joining us today on this
special celebration and making this occasion.”
He continued, “There is no better way to thank Your Holiness than
each one of us promising to generate within ourselves the good human
values, such as love, compassion, tolerance, forgiveness and most
importantly, even if we cannot help others refrain from harming other
sentient beings.
“The making of this event was memorable indeed for everyone
involved. I wish to take this opportunity to express my sincere
appreciation to Capital Area Tibetan Association for their fullest
cooperation; my colleague, Special Envoy Gyari Rinpoche, for his
guidance and help; and to the International Campaign for Tibet for their
cooperation. I also wish to thank the City of Washington DC for
honoring His Holiness and also providing warm reception to HH whenever
he is in the city. We are always deeply appreciative of all the
courtesies expanded by US government.”
His Holiness then went for his lunch before continuing his preparatory prayers in the afternoon.
At noon, there was a parade by representatives of the Tibetan
associations throughout the North America that began at the Verizon
Center and ended on the National Mall. Several thousand Tibetans
participated in the parade that ended with traditional dances by the
people on the Mall.
On July 7, His Holiness continues his preparatory prayers in the
morning and in the afternoon, House Speaker John Boehner will host a
bipartisan meeting with His Holiness at the Capitol.
