His Holiness the Dalai Lama has made an indelible impact on the world at large, but this volume has the modest goal of celebrating his contribution, direct and indirect, to the propagation of the tantric Buddhism of Tibet, the Vajrayāna or Diamond Vehicle. More specifically, the volume focuses on the Kālacakra (Wheel of Time) tantric system, which His Holiness has taught widely in the past thirty years, most recently on the 2550th anniversary of the original teaching given at Amarāvatī, in South India. Namgyal Monastery, the Dalai Lama’s personal monastery, is the foremost institution of the Kālacakra teachings, being responsible for creating the intricate sand maṇḍala and providing other ritual support at each initiation that His Holiness gives. It is therefore fitting that His Holiness has chosen to name the new facility for Namgyal Monastery Institute of Buddhist Studies Du Khor Choe Ling, or Land of Kālacakra Study and Practice. This volume commemorates His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s visit to and blessing of this new facility, located in the beautiful Finger Lakes area of Upstate New York.
The Buddhism that flourished in Tibet is an entire worldview involving ethics, logic, epistemology, and metaphysics. In Tibet these provided the basis for the foundational practices which are the steps by which one ascends towards and enters into the Vajrayāna, of which Kālacakra is often considered the pinnacle. The Vajrayāna is known as the sole door to Buddhahood in Tibetan Buddhism, and so the common impulse to bypass the “lower paths” and to engage in only the highest has been problematic since these practices entered Tibet more than a thousand years ago. It remains so now in the West as well. Without adequate preparation in the common paths of the Mahāyāna, the tantric practices are expected to remain off limits. This is why institutions such as Namgyal Monastery Institute of Buddhist Studies have a curriculum which stresses the stages of the path and bodhisattva training instruction. Only with these common practices as a basis can one expect to succeed in the advanced tantric practices.
Kālacakra is the most complex of the Vajrayāna systems. This tantra addresses explicitly in its five chapters the structure of the entire cosmos (outer), human psychophysical constituents (inner), and the processes (other or alternate) by which the outer and inner are purified and which are detailed in three chapters on initiation, sādhana, and wisdom. The Wheel of Time (cakra meaning “wheel” and kāla “time”) refers to this interpenetration of inner and outer realities, which suggests that one’s spiritual practice—the purification of the inner—transforms the external world, purifying the outer. Thus the practitioner’s role in creating world peace is not simply a passive one but rather a creative process for the benefit of all beings, and clearly this is why His Holiness has emphasized the Kālacakra teachings as Tibetan Buddhism has spread throughout the world.
Holiness’ policy has been to give permission for some teachings which had previously been restricted in order to counter popular misunderstandings that some prior publications in the West had caused. His own early work explicating Tsong Khapa’s Great Treatise on Secret Mantra and on the system of Kālacakra have done much to explain the concepts of tantra. His Holiness has worked with or facilitated the research of many Western scholars who have worked with Tibetan practitioner-scholars to explicate the link between the classic texts and the tradition as it is practiced today. It is this collaborative effort that we celebrate here in Sections I and II, entitled “Translation and Revelation” and “Analysis and Insight,” respectively. The Buddha urged his followers not to accept his words without scrutiny and reasoning. This is a value highly prized within the Tibetan tradition. So too, the scholars here do not simply reproduce uncritically claims of the Tibetan tradition.
Further, the living Tibetan Buddhist tradition, at the urging of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, is collaborating with scientists to investigate areas of mutual importance. As with His Holiness’ efforts toward interfaith dialogue, his interest in science is for the broader benefit of all humanity, indeed all sentient beings. As he writes in the opening pages of The Universe in a Single Atom, His Holiness is concerned to “make the wonderful developments of science into something that offers altruistic and compassionate service for the needs of humanity and the other sentient beings with whom we share this earth” while ensuring that humanity not “be reduced to nothing more than biological machines, the products of pure chance in the random combination of genes, with no purpose other than the biological imperative of reproduction.” Thus, Section III, “Transmission and Transition,” considers this interface between Buddhism and science and other contemporary issues. We close the volume with teachings from two young Kālacakra scholars affiliated with Namgyal Monastery and, finally, words of instruction from the late master Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche along with the prayer for his swift return.
With the establishment of Du Khor Choe Ling, and with the support of scholars and practitioners alike, may this Land of Kālacakra become a major center for Kālacakra study and practice in North America. May this volume contribute to the continued development of Kālacakra practice and to its temporary and ultimate goals.
Edward (Ted) Arnold