Dalai Lama blesses Stupa in Red Feather Lakes

By Linda Bell
Correspondent

Heralded by an ethereal droning of conch shells and Tibetan horns and incense-laden smoke, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama arrived along with welcome sunshine on the large terrace surrounding the Great Stupa of the Dharmakaya before a hushed and awed crowd of 2,200 people.

Most had been waiting since dawn in breezy bone-chilling temperatures hovering just above freezing and fairly unusual for mid-September, even at 8,000 feet.

Applause thundered when the Dalai Lama's helicopter came into view just after 9 a.m., along with another carrying Queen Noor of Jordan. The 71-year-old Dalai Lama arrived in Red Feather Lakes to bless the Great Stupa. Consecrated in 2001, it's the largest example of Buddhist sacred architecture in the United States. It was built to honor Tibetan teacher Chsgyam Trungpa Rinpoche, founder of the Naropa University in Boulder and the practice of Shambhala Buddhist meditation in North America.

Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, host for the ceremony and son of Chsgyam Trungpa, honored the Dalai Lama by presentation of the first Living Peace Award, of which the Great Stupa is a symbol. He said the peace award acknowledges those who not only wish for peace, but who are an embodiment of peace in themselves, living it daily.

Besides the Dalai Lama and Queen Noor, honored guests and speakers included Rabbi Irwin Kula, president of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership in New York City; Chief Arvol Looking Horse, spiritual leader for the Dakota Sioux; and his wife, Paula Horne.

In his remarks, the Dalai Lama's humanity and easy good humor sometimes elicited laughter as well as humility--as when he charged everyone to live each day constructively and with unbiased compassion. He spoke mostly in English but occasionally deferred to his Tibetan translator to get a meaning just right.

The Dalai Lama is the religious leader of Tibet, a traditional role dating back to the first Dalai Lama who lived from 1391 to 1474. He heads the Tibetan government-in-exile as Tibet is currently controlled by China.

Many people attending the event bought white khatas, Tibetan silk scarves used for blessings and religious occasions. Tied end to end and woven among the crowd, they connected to a single strand of silk for the Dalai Lama to bless. Everyone with a hand on a khata received the blessing.

This historic national and international event, closely restricted by a U.S. Department of State security detail, had the aura of a once-in-a-lifetime experience while still being firmly anchored in the surrounding community.

Neighbors bumped into neighbors. Some were invited guests or employees and volunteers at the Shambhala Center. Others served on the emergency response and first aid teams from Poudre Canyon and Glacier View Volunteer Fire Departments. Some had purchased admission tickets out of curiosity or conviction.

Musqua Angie Swinger, manager of Panhandle Hardware in Red Feather Lakes, was an invited VIP. Swinger, dressed in the traditional manner of her Cree people, met the Dalai Lama, Queen Noor and the visiting Mongolian monks during the ceremony.

"It was awesome," Swinger said. "Who gets to meet the Dalai Lama, one of the greatest men in the world, a man who embodies such compassion, peace and love? I was speechless. It was an amazing moment for me."

Lindy King, former volunteer coordinator for special events at the Shambhala Center, said she was touched by the Dalai Lama's message. "It's all about goodness--it's so simple," she said. Bob King was construction manager for the Stupa, and the Kings spent most of 12 summers plus a full year at the Shambhala Center while the Stupa was being built.

King said the ceremony reinforced all her feelings about how the Stupa never fails to awaken her senses, from the icy air to the rippling prayer flags and banners. She said there's a natural enlightenment of the mind to all that is.

The Dalai Lama's week-long visit to the United States took him coast to coast. While in Colorado the weekend of Sept. 16 and 17, he joined nine other Nobel Peace Laureates, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, at PeaceJam, an international youth conference held at Denver University. He also spoke to a crowd of more than 14,500 at the Pepsi Center following his morning at the Shambhala Center.

Adherents to Buddhism in the United States rose by 170 percent from 1990 to 2000, according to the American Religious Identity Survey. At 1.5 million, it is the country's fourth-largest religion after Christianity, Judaism and Islam.