His Holiness the Dalai Lama 2008 Long Life celebration
It is with immense joy that we would like to formally announce the confirmed
dates for the long life prayer offering and teaching by our beloved leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama. This event is scheduled
to take place in Madison, from July 18 to 25, 2008. The teachings on Shantideva’s Guide to a Bodhisattva’s Way
of Life and Kamalashila’s Middle Stages of Meditation, will take place from July 20 to 23 and the tenshug is scheduled
for July 24. We are also very pleased to announce that Kalon Tripa Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche had kindly agreed to do the Tenshug
Mandela offering explanation.
The
8th annual conference of the Tibetan Associations of North America unanimously resolved to make a supplication to offer long
life prayer (tenshug) to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. His Holiness has very kindly accepted our request. A further meeting
was held in Minnesota in October of 2006, where an eight member working committee was elected. After consultation with the
Office of Tibet, New York and the Private Office of His Holiness, it was confirmed that the teaching and tenshug of NATA would
be co- sponsored with Deer Park Buddhist Center and would take place in Madison, Wisconsin where His Holiness was scheduled
to visit in July of 2008.
The
NATA working committee and Deer Park Buddhist Center representatives met under the chairmanship of Representative Tashi Wangdi
at Deer Park Buddhist Center for two days in February 2008. A joint committee under the spiritual guidance of Geshe Lhundub
Sopa of Deer Park Buddhist Center has been formed to organize this historic event.
As the first, elaborate tenshug offered to His Holiness on North American soil, this will
not only be a very special and rare occasion for the Tibetans in North America but a historic occasion. It is anticipated
that a large number of Tibetans from all over the globe will come to participate in this precious opportunity of offering
prayers for His Holiness’s long life in person. This will also be an appropriate occasion for Tibetans to express their
heartfelt gratitude for His Holiness’s guidance of perfect wisdom of compassion and to fervently request His Holiness
to live a very long life and continue to guide us.
We draw immense pleasure in making this official announcement and would like to request
the Tibetan Associations in North America to share this information at their local gatherings and place this announcement
on their web home page.
We
consider ourselves fortunate to be involved in organizing this rare occasion and are working diligently to make this a huge
success. We hope this announcement will facilitate early planning and will encourage community members and others to plan
their calendars accordingly. Please visit our web www.dalailama2008na.com for more information. We will update the website regularly. July 3, 2007
Organized by Tibetan Associations of North America and Deer Park Buddhist Center
