Monday, August 16, 1999
Tristaters join throngs awaiting Dalai Lama
BY JULIE IRWIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The Dalai Lama's arrival in Indiana today, for a 12-day visit in the state, is a dream come true for some Tristate residents.
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OTHER DALAI LAMA EVENTS
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The eight-day Kalachakra Initiation is the centerpiece of the Dalai Lama's visit to Bloomington, but there are other events planned in conjunction with the ceremony. A brief look at the Dalai Lama's schedule (all times are Eastern Standard):
• Today: Welcoming ceremony at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis, 10 a.m. ($10 tickets available through TicketMaster). Welcoming banquet ($500 per plate) at 5 p.m. at the Tibetan Cultural Center in Bloomington.
• Tuesday: Ritual preparation for the Kalachakra 7 a.m.-noon and 1-3:30 p.m. Panel discussion at Indiana University on youth violence 5-7 p.m.
• Wednesday: Ritual preparation for the Kalachakra 7 a.m.-noon and 1-5 p.m. Public address by the Dalai Lama at IU's Assembly Hall ($10 tickets available through TicketMaster).
• Thursday: Ritual preparation for the Kalachakra 7 a.m.-noon and 1-3 p.m. At 3 p.m., beginning of the making of the sand mandala, an art form central to Buddhist ritual and meditation.
• Friday:Preliminary teachings of the Kalachakra 9:30 a.m.-noon and 1:30-4 p.m. Prayers and optional meditation 7-9:30 a.m.
• Saturday:Preliminary teachings of the Kalachakra 9:30 a.m.-noon and 1:30-4 p.m. Prayers and optional meditation 7-9:30 a.m.
• Sunday: Preliminary teachings of the Kalachakra 9:30 a.m.-noon and 1:30-4 p.m. Prayers and optional meditation 7-9:30 a.m.
• Aug. 23: Kalachakra Ritual and Offering Dance 1:30-2:30 p.m. Prayers run 7 a.m.-noon and 2:30-4 p.m. An invitation-only interfaith services runs 4:30-5:30 p.m.
• Aug. 24: Students' Preparation
1-4:30 p.m. Prayers 7 a.m.-noon.
• Aug. 25: Prayer 7 a.m.-noon and Kalachakra Initiation 1-4:30 p.m.
• Aug. 26: Prayer 7 a.m.-noon and Kalachakra Initiation 1-4:30 p.m.
• Aug. 27: Long life empowerment ceremony for the public and for the Dalai Lama 7:30 a.m.-noon. Public viewing of the mandala noon-3 p.m. and dismantling of the mandala at 3 p.m.
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They will make the 21/2-hour drive to Bloomington to take part in the Kalachakra for World Peace 1999, an eight-day ceremony that consists of teachings, rituals and meditation. This trip marks the fourth time the Dalai Lama, 64, the Tibetan Buddhist exile, will lead the ceremony in the United States.
Carolyn Clark's daughter, Kamala Blairman, is flying in from Tuscon, Ariz., so the two can attend portions of the cere mony together.
“We're not Buddhists. We just want to go and learn,” said Ms. Clark, a graphic designer who lives in Mount Auburn. “I'm sort of a Universalist and my daughter's been searching and she thinks Buddhism is the answer. Everybody seems to be so together who practices Buddhism.”
The Dalai Lama's visit begins today with a 10 a.m. welcoming ceremony in Indianapolis. He will then head south to the Tibetan Cultural Center in Bloomington for a $500-per-plate fund-raising dinner.
Three days of preparations for the Kalachakra begin Tuesday, and the ceremony runs daily from Friday to Aug. 27 at the cultural center.
The center was founded by Thubten Norbu, the Dalai Lama's elder brother and a retired professor at Indiana University.
Beth Cummings, an administration coordinator at the University of Cincinnati, could not take two weeks off work to attend the entire ceremony, so she will go for two or three days this week.
She began studying Buddhist teachings six or seven years ago.
“I personally view it as the opportunity of a lifetime to be this close and actually receive teachings from the Dalai Lama,” she says. “He's certainly very grounded and he's the epitome of what I look for in a spiritual leader.”
In addition, Mrs. Cummings adds, there is the prospect of 5,000 or more people in one place, all concentrating on world peace: “I really feel like with the number of people descending on that place, I expect the energy to be incredible.”
Bonnie Beverage, a founder of the Buddhist Dharma Center in Northside, will be attending the Kalachakra for three days next week. She saw the Dalai Lama once before in Bloomington and couldn't pass up the chance to see him again.
“It would be like going to see the pope if you were Catholic,” she says.
“To get the teachings from him is like a great honor. It's supposed to be teachings dealing with healing and harmony, and I think we all need that.”
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