18.12.2011, India
Long Life Ceremony for Kunzig Shamar Rinpoche
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Starting from November 25, 2011, His Holiness the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa was invited to a three-day celebrative event at Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh, held under the joint auspices of the Mahabodhi Society of Sri Lanka, Sanchi Centre and the Madhya Pradesh Government.
The occasion was the 59th anniversary of Sanchi’s Chetiyagiri Vihara as well as the annual exhibition of the holy relics of the Buddha’s great Arhat disciples Shariputra and Mahamogalyana.
55 years ago, on October 14th 1956, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, known to the people of India as the “Father of the Constitution”, organized a public ceremony for himself and his supporters in Nagpur where he took refuge in the “Three Jewels” and accepted the “Five Precepts” of the Buddhist tradition. After formally completing his own conversion, he then proceeded to convert some 500,000 of his supporters, many of who were considered “Untouchables” in the Hindu “Caste System” like himself. Ambedkar believed that the Mahar people were an ancient Buddhist community of India who had been forced to live outside villages as outcasts because they refused to renounce their Buddhist practices. He considered this to be the reason they became known as “Untouchables” in the Hindu tradition, according to his book entitled Who were the Shudras?. He then traveled to Kathmandu, Nepal to attend the fourth World Buddhist conference. Coincidentally, 1956 also marks a historical moment in the life of the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa, when at the Invitation of the Mahabodhi Society of India and Jawaharlal Nehru the Karmapa traveled from Tibet throughout India on pilgrimage in celebration of the 2,500th anniversary of Buddha’s Enlightenment.
H.H 17th Gyalwa Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje gives Dharma teachings in the Karmapa International Buddhist Institute, New Delhi.
Please be informed that although these teachings are primarily intended for K.I.B.I’s residents, the general public also cordially invited.
The schedule for Dharma teachings will be as follow:
5th November 2011 (Saturday): 5.00 pm
18th November 2011 (Friday): 5.00 pm
