Request for Kalachakra Initiation

Request for Kalachakra Initiation

Date Posted:
October 2013

In April 1996, Rinpoche wrote to His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama to request the Kalachakra initiation in France. Rinpoche also wrote with news of the official launch of the Maitreya Project in Bodhgaya, India, in March 1996. [Read a report on this event in Mandala magazine, May 1996 edn.]

Your Holiness, who is Buddha of Compassion, source of happiness and peace, and sole object of refuge for all of us sentient beings, I humbly prostrate at your holy lotus feet.

I want to deeply express Your Holiness’ limitless kindness by showing a healthy aspect and guiding us sentient beings to liberation and full enlightenment by giving profound advice like precious diamonds and profound extensive holy Dharma like Buddha's nectar.

In particular, Your Holiness, your guidance and concern for us, the FPMT. I humbly would like to request with the two palms together, on behalf of the ninety FPMT centers, to grant the Kalachakra initiation in Paris, as we requested at the end of the teachings at Institut Vajra Yogini in 1993.

I thought to bring up the reasons. Millions of French people became very close to Your Holiness in the last visit, including through television. So, to make that relationship more deep and stable, more meaningful.

Not only would a Kalachakra in France be a great blessing to the country, but also two or three days of preliminary teachings would benefit many people.

We will arrange it, especially if it is at the end of 1997 or at the beginning of 1998. If that time is not possible for Your Holiness' schedule, then whenever is convenient to Your Holiness, we will arrange.

Without Your Holiness, the world would be dark, not only in Tibet, but the Buddhist world would be very dark, like a body without a head (which does many important activities, talking, hearing, seeing, maybe thinking). We sentient beings would become guide-less and lost.

Therefore we deeply request Your Holiness to have a stable life for eons numberless as the drops in the ocean, to continuously guide us, myself and students, in all the lifetimes without separation from Your Holiness.

With devotion and prostrations of the three doors to Your Holiness, the Buddha of Compassion,

Thubten Zopa

PS: I would like to express thanks for your great kindness and compassion in supporting the Maitreya Project, for your Holiness' message during the function and for sending Doboom Tulku as a representative.

The function went extremely well, very smoothly. It was a great blessing that His Holiness Chobgye Trichen Rinpoche was there to recite the sutra for the two sojongs—the tashi sojong and ngo-tok sojong—and to do the puja for dispelling the obstacles and blessing the ground. We had eight Tantric College monks to do the jinsek [fire puja], and then seven monks from each monastery—Sera, Ganden, and Drepung.

We performed the thousand offerings to Maitreya twice. One good thing to inform Your Holiness: we did prayers with Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims at the function, although a Muslim person had a stroke or heart attack that morning. Theravadins and Chinese Sangha also participated. So, we tried to harmonize or unify.

The main guests were:

  • His Excellency Mr. Mangala Munasinghe, High Commissioner of Sri Lanka
  • Mr. K.M Singh of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India
  • Shri S.C. Mukherjee, Vice-Chancellor of Magadh University
  • Shri Chintu Nayak, Commissioner, Magadh Division
  • Shri Rajiv Gauba, District Magistrate of Gaya

Unfortunately, although they were happy to attend, the Vice-president of India [K.R. Narayanan] and the Governor of Bihar [A.R. Kidwai] were unable to attend, due to the elections being called and a ban placed against them appearing at public gatherings.

As an offering and as entertainment we also had religious dances from Kopan and some Tibetan dancers from Kalimpong. Some Tibetan yak and lion dances were done.

We certainly hope that Your Holiness will bless the land of the Maitreya statue by placing your holy feet there and granting the precious teachings of the Heart Sutra, the Praise to Bodhicitta and the Great Chenrezig initiation, as we requested some time ago.

I am very sorry to take so much of Your Holiness’ time by informing you of all these details.