For As Long As Space Remains: Kalachakra 2011
Contributed by: Lotus News Staff
Published: 9 August 2011
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There was great joy in the Buddhist world, especially for those here in America, when it was announced that His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama would be bestowing the great Kalachakra empowerment once again in the United States in July 2011. The Lotus Garden sangha was even more overjoyed when it was known that the Kalachakra would be taking place in Washington DC which was just about a two-hour drive from Lotus Garden.
Previously, in 2009 Lotus Garden sangha members had served as ushers for the Heart of Change program with His Holiness at The American University. Now, Her Eminence Jetsün Khandro Rinpoche, in a continuing flow of immense kindness, was already planning for the sangha to attend the Kalachakra, along with the senior nuns of Samten Tse and Lama Riga and Lama Phuntsok visiting from Mindrolling Monastery. Lotus Garden sangha members from all over the country began to rearrange their summer schedules in order to be able to receive this precious transmission and be part of the historic event.
The organizing committee, the Capitol Area Tibetan Association (CATA), contacted Lotus Garden to seek help from members of the sangha to serve as volunteers during the Kalachakra transmissions. Jetsün Khandro Rinpoche agreed to provide assistance from the Lotus Garden sangha and serve in any capacity required to enable these invaluable transmissions to take place.
Thus a group of 175 Lotus Garden sangha members and friends came to comprise the very core of the 325 volunteer presence. Honored to once again have an opportunity to serve His Holiness and all those gathered to receive the precious empowerment, they were delighted, too, to be in the presence of His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa who had travelled from India to receive the Kalachakra.
In her vision that Lotus Garden truly become the seat of Mindrolling in the West, Jetsün Khandro Rinpoche saw this also as an opportunity for the sangha to train further in harmoniously managing large events. One could hardly imagine a bigger challenge than caring for the crowds who gathered on the Capitol’s West Lawn or the many thousands who flocked into the Verizon Center, home of the Washington Wizards professional basketball team, in downtown Washington.
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