Since his 75th Birthday on 6th July, His Holiness has been on the move constantly. This article will shed some light onto his incredibly busy schedule and just how fortunate we are that he has made the commitment to visit us here in Australia once again.
The Dalai Lama:
A Monk on the Move
Dharamsala, HP, India, 23 August 2010 (Indo-Asian News Service)
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama is 75 but still a true globetrotter, so much so that he doesn't really need to unpack. He's made 11 trips just in the last seven months - to places within India and outside to speak on peace, non-violence, Buddhism and even environmental concerns. And last year, the Dalai Lama made 20 visits abroad including the US, Germany, Italy, Japan, Switzerland, Canada, Australia and France.
A light traveler, his quest for generating awareness on spiritual and Tibetan issues carries him from place to place even as China tries to forewarn the countries he plans to visit.
The Nobel laureate, wearing his trademark maroon robes, travels with an unchanging smile on his face. Officials of the Tibetan government-in-exile, which is based in this northern Indian hill station, say the spiritual guru visits places only on invitation.
"His Holiness (the Dalai Lama) prefers to visit universities and educational institutions to speak on compassion, peace, non-violence, promoting human values and to teach Buddhism," Thubten Samphel, secretary of the department of information and international relations of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), told IANS.
He said the spiritual guru also prefers to speak on a number of environmental issues like protecting endangered fauna, minimising greenhouse gas emissions, optimum use of natural resources and climate change.
In the last seven months, the Dalai Lama has toured five countries - two visits each to the US and Germany apart from Switzerland, Slovenia and Japan.
"This year he has travelled much within India. He visited Mumbai, Bodh Gaya, Kolkata, Delhi, Gulabgarh (in Jammu and Kashmir) and Jispa, Kullu and Manali (in Himachal Pradesh)," Samphel said.
According to the Dalai Lama's official website, in 1967 he made his first visit abroad since coming into exile in 1959, visiting Japan and Thailand. In 1973, he made his first visit to the West, visiting 12 European countries in a record 75 days. His first visit to the US and Canada was in 1979. In the past five years, the Dalai Lama's preferred foreign destinations include Japan (13 times), the US (11 times), Germany (10 times), Italy (five times) and Switzerland (thrice) and France (twice).
During his visits, the elderly monk participates in meetings with religious leaders, and lectures businessmen on ethics for the new millennium and the art of happiness. He chuckles throughout his talks and often slaps visitors on their back. He also attends fundraisers with Hollywood celebrities like Richard Gere, Sharon Stone and Goldie Hawn.
"He has a very busy schedule during his visits abroad. His daily schedule has 15-20 appointments," said an aide of the Dalai Lama.
Enjoy this recent interview by His Holiness, given to media in Manali last week.
Special Commemorative Canvas
As mentioned in our July Newsletter, we now have available for purchase direct from our website, the beautiful special commemorative canvas celebrating His Holiness 75th Birthday.
For $245 including postage to anywhere in Australia, you can have one of these beautiful canvases for your home or centre.
Measuring 20 inches x 30 inches and printed onto high quality art matt canvas using the Giclee fine art reproduction technique, the images will last well into the next generation (over 75 years). The canvas is water resistant and is stretched onto a thick 38mm wood frame. The printing technology used is that which is used to make fine art and museum prints for display in some of the world's finest museums and galleries.
His Holiness 75th Birthday Celebration Canvas
A Conversation with His Holiness
Question: During the course of your life, what have been your greatest personal lessons or internal challenges? Which realizations and experiences have had the most effect on your growth as an individual?
Answer: Regarding religious experience, some understanding of shunya (emptiness: lack of independent self nature) some feeling, some experience and mostly bodhichitta, altruism. It has helped a lot. In some ways, you could say that it has made me into a new person, a new man. I am still progressing. Trying. It gives you inner strength, courage, and it is easier to accept situations. That's one of the greatest experiences.
Question: When you became a refugee, what helped you gain this strength? Was it the loss of your position and country, the fact of everyone suffering around you? Were you called on to lead your people in a different way than you had been accustomed to?
Answer: Being a refugee is really a desperate, dangerous situation. At that time, everyone deals with reality. It is not the time to pretend things are beautiful. That's something. You feel involved with reality. In peace time, everything goes smoothly. Even if there is a problem, people pretend that things are good. During a dangerous period, when there's a dramatic change, then there's no scope to pretend that everything is fine. You must accept that bad is bad. Now when I left the Norbulinka, there was danger. We were passing very near the Chinese military barracks. It was just on the other side of the river, the Chinese check post there. You see, we had definite information two or three weeks before I left, that the Chinese were fully prepared to attack us. It was only a question of the day and hour.
The Teachings Venue
A Bodhisattva Way of Life by Shantideva, which will be held over the Queen's birthday long weekend in June 2011, will be held at the Melbourne Convention Centre.
The Convention Centre is ideally located at South Wharf and is within either a short walk or tram ride from the city centre and has hotel accommodation on its door step.
Open in 2009, the centre has already been recognised and awarded for its innovation, design and versatility.
The Teachings will be held in the main Plenary Hall, which although seats over 5000 people, is a very intimate room. It will provide all sections of seating with uninterrupted views of the stage and His Holiness. Also available is assistance for the hearing impaired, quality audio and vision support screens showing His Holiness close up.
Big foyer spaces will include stalls, exhibitions, displays and performance for you to enjoy during the breaks and if you would like to escape outside, the centre is position right beside the Yarra River with its ever changing vista and many walking paths.
After the success of the pre ordered lunches offered during the 2008 Stages of Meditation Teachings, we are working with the centre to provide both hot & cold meal options for you to consider, with these being made available to order through your members page at any time in the lead up to the Teachings.
In the whole of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, there is no single treatise more deeply revered or widely practiced then A Bodhisattva way of Life by Shantideva.
Saturday 11th to Monday 13th June 2011
Over the course of the Queen's birthday long weekend, His Holiness will explore the six perfections that provide the basis for the Bodhisattva Way of life - generosity, ethics, patience, zeal, meditative concentration and wisdom.
His Holiness has stated, "If I have any understanding of compassion and the practice of the Bodhisattva path, it is entirely on the basis of this text that I possess it".
Dalai Lama in Australia members will have access to the first release of tickets for the Teachings which will be available from 9am on Wednesday 13th October.
Once again we will make available a tiered pricing structure for the tickets, which we hope will enable all to attend. Tickets are for the entire five sessions of Teachings with no single session tickets being made available.
Pre Earlybird Rate
Platinum - $721 - only 250 available
A Reserve - $360
B Reserve - $241
C Reserve - $144
Purchasing early means you can attend these remarkable Teachings by His Holiness for as little as $28.80 per session.
So put Wednesday 13th October in your diaries and let your friends and family know.
Join us on Facebook & Twitter
Dalai Lama in Australia now has another way for you to keep up to date with all the news and announcements regarding the 2011 visit of His Holiness to Australia.
Join us as a friend on Facebook and Twitter , where our first follower is His Holiness himself.
Help us spread the word about His Holiness 2011 visit by sharing with your friends and family.
Mind & Its Potential
Join the team at Mind & Its Potential as they come together to explore the mind and its capabilities. Being held at the Sydney Convention Centre 18th & 19th November, the organisers are bringing together a fabulous array of scientists, psychologists and philosophers to explain how to apply the new science of the brain in education, medicine, business and your life.
Can you guess what I've been up to by this picture?
If you said painting well you guessed right! We have been busy painting the office in Sydney. Whilst it was hard work it was also fun and I manage to only get one small spot on my fur - pretty good hay? I can't say the same for Venerable Aileen or Mark however. They managed to get themselves covered but check out Aileen's backward painting technique!
Anyway, the office looks great and is the perfect space for us to coordinate His Holiness visit next year.
Already things are well underway and I am looking forward to bringing you all the news from both our office and from the members of our team working in Melbourne, Brisbane & Perth. It's going to be another big year - I love it.
See you next month,
Tulku
Tibetan Furniture & Buddhist Statues
For those of you in Sydney this weekend don't miss your chance to pick up a piece of authentic Tibetan furniture or a beautiful Buddhist Statue for your home or Centre.
There are many items going under the hammer as part of The Bodhichitta Group's very first event. The evening will be a celebration of the work of Venerable Robin Courtin, who will be in town to host the evening, which will include the auction to raise funds to support her Bodhichitta Group and Liberation Prison Project.
Other items on offer are art works by some of Australia's most distinguished artists including Margaret Olley, Charles Blackman, Martin Sharp and scared art by Kathmandu's finest Tibetan Painters.
Join Robina on Saturday 28th August, 6 to 9pm at the gorgeous Tim Olsen Gallery in Woollahra.
