His Holiness the 17th Karmapa
His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, Urgyen Trinley Dorje, turned twenty five years of age this year. In the space of these twenty five years, His Holiness achieved what ordinary people would take a hundred lifetimes to accomplish. His majestic appearance, deep wisdom and compassion affect the different levels of individual beings. His wisdom and learning affect all different aspects of afflictions and emotions, the young, the old, and the sick. Being that he is such a profound enlightened being, he has the ability and power to communicate to all of these different levels of people. In the world, there are lots of unfortunate things going on; in this mess of chaos there does exist one who is like a wish-fulfilling gem fulfilling individual needs. He is the refuge and Lord Protector for all of us. We always wish His Holiness a long life, good health, and an increase to his activity for the benefit of all the world.
In the Bay Area, devotees have been celebrating his birthday for some time now. This year, we celebrated his twenty-fifth birthday on June 26th. There are many devotees sacrificing their efforts to ensure that that his birthday is celebrated with all good conditions. The celebration took place at Berkeley Marina Park; before the time came, many Bay Area devotees cooked, cleaned and arose early in the morning to erect a tent, raise prayer flags and set up a throne and altar. By 9:30 AM, the ceremony began with a fire puja, tea and saffron rice offerings to the throne, and every guest received tea and saffron rice. Following this was the universal mandala offering representing the body, speech and mind of the Buddha. Later, there was the La.Gyel ceremony followed by traditional Tibetan singing and dancing. Finally, a vegetarian buffet lunch was served along with a special cake cutting ceremony. The day ended with auspicious and harmonious conditions, and everyone enjoyed the celebration.
For more information about His Holiness and his daily activities, please visit: http://www.kagyu.org
His Eminence Tai Situpa is currently residing at Sherab Ling monastery within Palpung, India, and gives teachings to Tibetan Rinpoches, Lamas and Monks, and from time to time, Easterners and Westerners.
He is currently engaged in a 10-month retreat until Losar, 2011. More information can be found at: http://www.palpung.org
His Eminence Gyaltsab Rinpoche is currently teaching at the University of Nalanda. He recently led a traditional Three Year Retreat at Ralang Monastery in which more than seventy lamas emerged ceremoniously from their isolated compound, graduating from their Retreat.
Once His Eminence Kalu Rinpoche emerged from his Three Year Retreat, he then placed another twenty monks in a new Three Year Retreat at Sonada in October 2009, giving them the entire Shangpa circle of empowerments. Then, he traveled to Eastern China to Taiwan and Hong Kong, as well as Europe on a teaching tour. When he returned to India, he visited a Sherpa monastery and gave an empowerment to over a thousand local people. We are not sure when he will make his return to the United States and have no new information at this time. Any updates will first go to the KDK website, http://www.kdk.org
To follow His Eminence’s activities, please visit http://www.paldenshangpa.org
