Photo: OHHDL
His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetans and Buddhists around the world, gave a two-day Teachings for Tibetan Youth at Tsuglakhang, the main Tibetan temple in Dharamshala on June 1 – 2. June 1 this year was second day of Saga Dawa, the most sacred month in the Tibetan Buddhist Year and which celebrates the Buddha’s enlightenment. His Holiness taught on Lama Tsongkhapa’s In Praise of Dependent Arising and the Foundation of All Excellent Qualities as well as conferring the Empowerment of Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara, the Buddha of Compassion.
An estimated 9,500 people, including school children and young Tibetans, gathered for the teaching, with the preliminary initiation of the Avalokiteshvara Empowerment on June 1, and the actual initiation on June 2.
While speaking on the first day of his Teachings for Tibetan Youth, His Holiness said that he would teach In Praise of Dependent Arising, saying that this explains the meaning of dependent origination and emptiness, as part of the preparations for the Avalokiteshvara Empowerment. “We have a tradition of teaching Tibetan students and schoolchildren in June, and as part of that, I am going to give an Avalokiteshvara Empowerment. We will do the preliminaries today and the actual Empowerment tomorrow,” His Holiness said.
He emphasised that dependent arising can be demonstrated using logic and reason. He acknowledged that the author, Jé Tsongkhapa, was fascinated by emptiness, saying that he pondered dependent origination and emptiness for a long time and received guidance in visions of Arya Manjushri.
Photo: OHHDL
His Holiness also offered a reading transmission of Lama Tsongkhapa’s Foundation of All Good Qualities, and then began the preparations he needed to make before the Empowerment process could begin. He gave the Bodhisattva vows as part of the pupils’ preparation for the Empowerment.
On June 2, the second day of Teachings, His Holiness gave the actual Empowerment of Avalokiteshvara. He said, “Avalokiteshvara is regarded as the embodiment of the compassion of all the Buddhas. And Tibet is the land whose people he is to train.”
His Holiness spoke about the importance of peace of mind and how it can be achieved from practising bodhichitta (the mind that is aimed at awakening) and altruism, with the quote. He quoted Shantideva saying, “All those who suffer in the world do so because of their desire for their own happiness and all those happy in the world are so because of their desire for the happiness of others” and continued, “Every day as I wake up, I meditate on bodhichitta and emptiness, which sets my mind at ease. As soon as I get up I recite In Praise to Dependent Arising and Mani mantras, while visualising Avalokiteshvara on my right shoulder and Tara on my left.”
His Holiness reminded the young people present that everyone possesses a seed of compassion that each person may nourish and extend indefinitely to encompass not only their adversaries, but all living creatures across the universe. He concluded by saying, “Wherever you are, think about bodhichitta and emptiness. Doing that will increase your accumulation of merit and wisdom and the more you do that, the more it will help the Tibetan cause”.
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