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the-south-asian.com October 2000 |
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THE 'KI' TO SPIRITUALISM (cntd) Ki Monastery….1000-year-old repository of Buddhist art and literature-overlooking the village Ki.Buddhist Art & Literature Apart from their religious influence, the monasteries in Spiti Valley also became the fount of power and repository of the region's art and manuscripts. The millennium old Ki monastery is one of the area's most revered centres of Himalayan Buddhism. It owes its origin to the great master Sherab Zangpo of Gelugpa sect to which the Dalai Lama belongs. Mystic, aloof and dramatically perched on eagle's nest-like hillock at 4,300 metres (around 13,550 feet) the monastery is the largest Indo-Tibetan Buddhist religious institution overlooking the valley and the Ki village and is the abode for more than 200 monks including scholars, pilgrims and students. The monastery houses some of the world's best Thangkas (Buddhist paintings), several ancient musical instruments and sacred texts. Originally, Ki was built as a fort. But with peace prevailing here today, it is one of the most venerated places of Buddhist learning. The Kalachakra Ceremony Although the Kalachakra ceremony started on August 4, the most sacred and significant part of it was between August 11 and 15 when the Dalai Lama began giving discourses. At any given time there were around 15,000 listeners from all over the world who had come to witness this historic ceremony for the peace of mankind. There are very few gurus who are permitted to perform the Kalachakra ceremony. Many conditions apply. For one, they should be following the path of renunciation after understanding the emptiness of this life. They must also have a true desire for perfect enlightenment for the benefit of others. "We must use all opportunity to practice the truth, to improve ourselves, instead of waiting for a time when we think we will be less busy," said the Dalai Lama summing up the essence of Buddhism. The incumbent Lama of the Ki Monastery, Tulku Lochan Rinpoche, himself a 19th reincarnation of the great tenth century guru, Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo, added, " To reach the highest level of a Bodhisattva, one has to go through various stages within one's lifetime - like the Dharmakaya - the State of Wisdom, and the Sambhogakaya - the State of Unity. It is only when these stages are crossed that the living being truly sees the impermanence of the world. The role of a `guru', or guide in this process is essential and here, in the `Kalachakra' Tantra, this role is played by His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. The Kalachakra Mandala, or the "center of the circle" incorporates a painting made from sand, jewels, flowers, coloured stones, or dyed rice. As each grain of sand in the Mandala is said to be charged with spiritual energy, it is a sacred mansion of its own. Both the deity residing at the center of it and the Mandala in its entirety are perceived as sacred expressions of the Enlightened Mind of The Buddha. There are 722 deities in the Kalachakra Mandala, symbolizing various manifestations of consciousness and reality. The Dalai Lama explained that the Kalachakra deities represented in the Mandala would create a favorable atmosphere that would reduce tension and violence in the world. Whether the ceremony achieves its lofty objective or not
is yet to be seen. But it did permeate a sense of peace and serenity in the
gathering of the 15,000 people who had come from all parts of the world
including Japan, America and the European countries and travelled deep
inside the Spiti Valley to witness the first kalachakra ceremony of the new
millennium.
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