Gyalwa Karmapa gave teachings and empowerment in KIBI, New Delhi

The Gyalwa Karmapa gives teachings and empowerments at the Karmapa International Buddhist Institute, New Delhi.

The 17th Gyalwa Karmapa, Trinle Thaye Dorje, who had just returned from his spectacular travel to Hong Kong, offered again a week-long course with teachings and empowerment for an audience of international students at his Karmapa International Buddhist Institute, New Delhi.

As in the last two years, this course was again the highlight and the conclusion of the institute’s study program, but this year, it also marked the start into the New Tibetan year (Losar), which had just begun about a week before. Thus, quite many participants had already arrived a week earlier and attended the three-day-long Mahakala-ritual to prevent obstacles for the coming year and the festive New Year celebrations with the Gyalwa Karmapa for the Ox-Year 2136 (according to the Tsurphu-calendar).

In the following days, more and more devotees from all over the world continued to pour into the newly renovated Karmapa International Buddhist Institute (K.I.B.I.), where dormitories were hastily set up to accommodate as many practitioners as possible. Once the course began, a mixed audience of about three-hundred participants of Rinpoches, Lamas, monks and devotees from Asia, Europe and America used the unique opportunity to receive instructions directly from the head of the Karma Kagyu lineage. For the first time, an even larger audience was able to follow the teachings via the World Wide Web by means of a live streaming.

The program set off on the first day with the empowerment of Dzambhala, the yidam of prosperity. On the consequent days, the young Buddhist master held lectures on Nagarjuna’s “Letter to a Friend” (Skt. Suhridalakha), except for the fourth and the last day, when he granted the empowerments of Mahakala Bernagchen and Milarepa respectively. Thereby, he took much care to explain this inspiring text, which covers essential Buddhist guidelines for monastic and lay practitioners alike, in great detail. Although there was simply not enough time to go through a larger part of the text, the clear and profound instructions given directly in English touched the hearts of those who were able to attend.

Every evening, the renowned Buddhist scholar Prof. Sempa Dorje, one of the main teachers of the Gyalwa Karmapa, gave very lively lectures on selected Buddhist topics for the public, which often took the shape and form of questions and answers. His teachings were interpreted by Khenpo Tsering Samdrup, the main instructor of K.I.B.I., who offered further public lectures on Chekawa Yeshe Dorje’s “Seven Points of Mind Training” (Tib. blo sbyong don bdun ma) in the morning. On the last evening, Lama Tsultrim Namgyal who had served as an attendant for both, the 16th and the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa, gave a vivid talk on the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa’s life.

Many disciples also used the opportunity during the breaks to meet the Gyalwa Karmapa for private interviews and spiritual guidance or to receive a blessing from Kunsig Shamar Rinpoche, who also paid a few short visits to the institute during these days.

All in all, it was a very intense program in a genuine spiritual atmosphere that left a deep impact on all the participants.

Photos: Dörde Kamarid