Friday, August 13, 1999
Dalai Lama, followers coming to Indiana
More than 5,000 coming to Bloomington
BY JULIE IRWIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Buddhist monk Tenzin Dudul brushes sealer on a wood stand that will be used to hold offerings during the Dalai Lama's visit next week.
(Michael E. Keating photo)
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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Imagine you are preparing for a visit from a favorite uncle, who lives halfway around the world.
Now imagine that uncle is the exiled leader of a country, the reincarnation of the Buddha of compassion and a worldwide symbol of humility and goodwill, all rolled into one. Imagine that your preparations include monks flown in from India, a 33,000-square-foot tent brought up from Tennessee, and security from the U.S. State Department.
Imagine, too, that your uncle will bring more than 5,000 followers from around the world with him, all of them seeking world peace but needing food, transportation and toilets in the meantime.
Sound stressful? Jigme and Kunga Norbu concede it's been a lot of work preparing for the visit of their uncle, the Dalai Lama, who will arrive in Bloomington on Monday and stay for 12 days. But they insist the yearlong, $2 million efforts are a privilege, not a burden.
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IF YOU GO
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• The Kalachakra Initiation, or “Turning of the Wheel of Time,” is dedicated to creating world peace and harmony through a series of teachings, rituals and meditation.
• Registration for the entire event is $375.
• One-day tickets are also available at the gate for $50. Gates open at 5 a.m. daily.
• For more information, visit the Tibetan Cultural Center's Web site at www.tibetancc.com or call the Kalachakra hot line at (812) 334-4156.
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“We have to have the best for him. We can't cut any corners,” said Kunga Norbu, 36, who was raised in Bloomington and still lives there. “It's fun for me to see something like this, but in another sense it's got to be done right.”
His Holiness, as the Dalai Lama's family refers to him, will be leading the Kalachakra for World Peace 1999, an eight-day ceremony in which participants try to spread peace through meditation, teachings and rituals. The Bloomington event will be only the fourth time he has conducted the revered ceremony in the United States.
Followers are descending on Bloomington from as far as France, Germany, Taiwan and Japan to take part in the ceremony. Actors Richard Gere, Harrison Ford and Steven Seagal are expected in town as well. The Norbus want people of all faiths to participate.
Holiness is coming they think this is event is for Buddhists, or they think they're going to be converted, and that isn't the case at all,” sa Jigme Norbu, 34, who owns one of the three Tibetan restaurants in Bloomington. “It's a matter of getting 5,000 or 6,000 people under the same tent and all thinking of the same goal, and that goal is world peace. This is just a seed being planted for the future.”
The Kalachakra will be the Dalai Lama's third trip to the Tibetan Cultural Center, which sits on southern outskirts of this college town. The center is an unlikely magnet for the world's Buddhists: 90 acres in a section of town where cornfields and brush are quickly giving way to anonymous new subdivisions.
The explanation for its presence, and for next week's ceremony, lies with Thubten Norbu, the Dalai Lama's elder brother and the father of Jigme and Kunga Norbu.
Thubten Norbu is 78, or 14 years older than his famous brother, with the same smile that crinkles his face as he talks. Mr. Norbu is an important religious figure in his own right, but when visitors come he offers to bring them tea and insists they stay for lunch. He understands the many different aspects of the relationship he has with his brother.
“His Holiness, to Tibetans he's the country's leader and religious figure,” he said. “To me he's my brother. We tell stories — "How are you feeling, you healthy?' We talk about personal things. ... He's just an unbelievable man. He's a fantastic man. He respects everybody, even as a child.”
Thubten Norbu fled Tibet in 1950 after the Chinese invaded the tiny Himalayan country that year. His brother, who was recognized as Tibet's spiritual and political leader at the age of 2, left the country nine years later on horseback to set up a government-in-exile in India.
In 1965 Thubten Norbu came to the University of Indiana to teach in the Central Asian Studies program, a post he held until his retirement 22 years later. The land for the cultural center was donated in 1979, the Dalai Lama first visited in 1987, and he returned for a brief stay in 1996.
With every passing year, Mr. Norbu notices that more and more people know about Tibet and the country's struggle to preserve its culture in opposition to its Chinese occupiers.
“At first when I came to this country people asked where I was from. I would say Tibet, and people would say, "Where is Tibet? Close to North Korea? Somewhere up in the Andes?'” he said. “I think now it's changing. Two (recent) movies (about Tibet) — Seven Years in Tibet and Kundun. I think so many people know now.”
Key to preserving that culture are places such as the Tibetan Cultural Center, about a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Cincinnati. Crowds come every Sunday afternoon to meditate and pray.
Others study and tour the grounds, where a monument commemorates the hundreds of thousands of Tibetans killed in the struggle with the Chinese. The Norbus hope eventually to open a monastery and temple on the site.
The idea for a Kalachakra in Bloomington came to Thubten Norbu a few years ago, as a solution to violence and brutality. He brought up the idea when he saw his brother in Japan around that time. A formal application followed in Dharamsala, the Indian capital of the Tibetan government-in-exile.
“I asked him if there was any chance, I'd like to have the Kalachakra at the university in Indiana, and he said OK. I was so happy he accepted,” Thubten Norbu said.
“To us, we believe the Kalachakra is one of the important things for this period. This is kind of a bad period. People are always killing each other, so we think this is a good time. The Kalachakra is one of the ways to remove brutality and bring peace and harmony.”
With the date set according to the Tibetan religious calendar, the plans began in earnest.
Jigme Norbu began working with the U.S. State Department to plan security for his uncle's visit. The Dalai Lama is under constant threat because of the upheaval in his homeland and because of theological fights within Tibetan Buddhism. The thousands who come to Blooming ton next week will have to pass through metal detectors before they can pray for world peace.
The leaders of Tibetan Buddhism's four major sects are all expected at the Kalachakra — the first time they have ever come together — and each one will have a newly constructed cottage to stay in. The Dalai Lama's two cooks will prepare his lunches in a nearby building, also built especially for the occasion.
The daily rituals and teachings will take place in a 33,000-square-foot tent, complete with carpeting, air conditioning, TV screens and a sophisticated sound system. A food court will serve sushi, pizza and Tibetan delicacies; and vendors will be on hand selling clothing, books and cultural items.
Tickets cost $375 for the entire teaching, or $50 for a single day. The Norbus say all the money is going to pay for the expenses of holding the Kalachakra.
The monks from India, in their distinctive ruby-and-saffron robes, have been busy with numerous tasks: hand-painting the Dalai Lama's throne in vivid blues and reds, rolling long strips of paper printed with Tibetan prayers, buying butter to make butter sculptures, fashioning ritual cakes out of imported barley flour. Prayer flags, costumes, horns, cushions and incense have also come from Dharamsala.
Their work is complemented by a corps of dedicated volunteers. Ann Alexis is coordinating the medical tent and helping the monks purchase all the supplies for the Kalachakra. She moved from Clifton to Bloomington earlier this year to be closer to the center.
“All these people have the opportunity and are blessed with being part of the preparations for what I think is one of the most important things that will be happening for a long time,” Ms. Alexis said. “I think all of us here consider it a great honor and privilege to be part of this.”
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