Wednesday, August 18, 1999
Faithful gather for Dalai Lama
'Like a Buddhist Woodstock'
BY JULIE IRWIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — He is a political figure on the international stage and a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, but it was as a religious leader that the Dalai Lama came to Bloomington on Tuesday.
The world's most visible Buddhist, sitting on a throne as monks came forward with dishes of rice and barley cakes and cymbals crashed in the background, presided at preparations for the Kalachakra for World Peace 1999. More than 5,000 have bought tickets to the revered ceremony, which will be held daily through Aug. 27 at the Tibetan Cultural Center here.
Outside the heavily guarded tent where the Kalachakra began, vendors set up booths to sell prayer beads, robes, Buddha statues, prayer flags, pizza and muffins. Crowds were small Tuesday, but they were expect ed to grow throughout the week.
“I knew it would be like a Buddhist Woodstock,” said Bauer Knight, who came from Frederick, Md., to sell prayer beads, clothes and other items. “The emphasis of Tibetan Buddhism is compassion, and the whole reason you go on retreat (such as the Kalachakra) is to become enlightened. And the whole reason you become enlightened is to benefit others.”
The Kalachakra Initiation is an ancient ceremony, first given by Buddha to the King of Shambhala and his entourage about 2,400 years ago. Those who participate try to bring about peace and tranquility through prayer, rituals and meditation.
Tibetan Buddhists believe the world “is evolving toward a time, maybe a couple hundred years in the future, when the world really will be a better place, when everyone will be loving,” said Robert Thurman, a professor of Tibetan studies at Columbia University who is attending the Kalachakra.
This month marks the 25th time the Dalai Lama has led the Kalachakra, and the fourth time in the United States. Most of Tuesday's ceremony was spent consecrating the land and objects at the Tibetan Cultural Center, which was founded in 1979 by the Dalai Lama's brother, Thubten Norbu.
Tibetan Buddhists believe that the current Dalai Lama is the 14th reincarnation of the Buddha of Compassion. As such, he is both the political leader of Tibet and Tibetans' spiritual leader. He fled to India in 1959 after the Chinese invaded Tibet and has led a government-in-ex ile ever since.
His dual role brought Tibetan refugees from all over the country to Bloomington. Tour groups also came from Japan and Thailand, joining American converts and those curious about Buddhism.
“We think he is the god. He is the everything for us, that's why we came here,” said Tsultim Tenzin Lama of Old Saybrook, Conn., who came with her husband.
“He's a human being with compassion, not like other leaders,” added her husband, Ten zin Kalsang Lama. “He's a leader but he's trying to make this whole Earth compassionate and kind.”
Preliminary teachings begin Friday, followed by a Kalachakra festival dance, initiations and long-life ceremonies for the public and the Dalai Lama.
“It is through such meditation and Kalachakra study that you can purify yourself and the world,” said Lhakdor, a monk who serves on the Dalai Lama's staff.
“When we purify (the body), we achieve Kalachakra.”
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