DALAI LAMA TO BLESS LARGEST BUDDHIST MONUMENT IN THE U.S.

Rocky Mountains – September 17, 2006
Visually Stunning and Historic Event

August 28, 2006 -- In an event of historic and religious significance, His Holiness the Dalai Lama will bless the largest Buddhist monument in the United States on Sunday morning, September 17 at the Shambhala Mountain Center in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Arriving in a convoy of helicopters from Denver, the Dalai Lama will be greeted by over 2,000 Buddhist practitioners. He will then proceed to The Great Stupa of Dharmakaya, one of the most noteworthy examples of Buddhist sacred architecture in the world and the largest monument dedicated to peace in North America.

In a two-hour event, the Dalai Lama will perform a traditional Tibetan blessing of the Stupa, speak to the assembly on the importance of compassion in today’s world, and receive the first Living Peace Award. The event is hosted by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, head of the Shambhala Buddhist lineage, and author of national best-sellers Turning the Mind into an Ally and Ruling Your World. In addition, Queen Noor of Jordan and Rabbi Irwin Kula of the National Jewish Center for Leadership and Learning will participate in a panel discussion with the Dalai Lama and Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche on the role of compassion in global leadership.

The event will be visually stunning as the Dalai Lama performs the ceremony high in the Colorado Rockies before an extraordinarily gilded architectural marvel. Surrounding the Great Stupa will be hundreds of Tibetan banners and flags. Although the Great Stupa was completed in 2001, this exceptional event is of great historic importance as it signifies a new chapter in the flowering of the traditional teachings of the Buddha in the United States.

Describing the significance of the Great Stupa, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche says, “In these turbulent times of extreme conflict and aggression threatening countless people and the planet itself, this monument to great compassion is a beacon, expressing the longing of countless Americans for peace, at home and abroad.”

The Dalai Lama’s visit is the culmination of a week of events at Shambhala Mountain Center. Two sold-out programs will attract people from all over the world, both of which will be hosted by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. Compassion in the Rockies will take place September 13 - 16, and Compassionate Leadership, a seminar for corporate and non-profit leaders, will take place September 15 – 17.

Woser Blog Shut Down

July 31, 2006
Woser blog shut down

(AFP) China has shut down a popular blog by the Tibetan author Woser (Chin: Weisei) after she wrote birthday wishes for the Dalai Lama and touched on other sensitive topics, the writer and a website operator have reported. The blog also discussed the HIV/Aids problem in Tibet, the impact of the recently completed Tibet railway on Tibetan culture, and the 40th anniversary of what happened in Tibet during the Cultural Revolution. A manager of one of two websites that carried the blogs said that they were ordered to remove the blog. "On 28 July we
received an order from the provincial government to shut her blog. I don't know the reason", said the manager of tibetcul.net, Wangchuk Tseten (Chin: Wangxiu Caidan), "I believe the order came from the central government". Wangchuk said that the blog was the most popular one on the website, receiving 280,000 hits since it was linked to the site in February 2005. Woser, a Tibetan formerly based in Lhasa but now in Beijing, confirmed that her blog had been shut down and criticised authorities for restricting freedom of expression. "It's unfortunate. It's unfair. In this kind of environment in China, it's very hard
to express one's true opinions and voice", she said. She said that she had no plans to create another blog in the near future but was working on a book about Tibet. In 2003 China banned ‘Notes on Tibet’, a book that she wrote that presented sensitive religious issues, including how the exiled Dalai Lama was still revered by Tibetans inside Tibet.

The above article was extracted from an email issued by TibetInfoNet.