Praises and Requests to His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Your Holiness, who is Buddha of Compassion, source of happiness and peace, and sole object of refuge for all of us sentient beings, I humbly prostrate at your holy lotus feet.

I want to deeply express Your Holiness’ limitless kindness by showing a healthy aspect and guiding us sentient beings to liberation and full enlightenment by giving profound advice like precious diamonds and profound extensive holy Dharma like Buddha's nectar.

In particular, Your Holiness, your guidance and concern for us, the FPMT. I humbly would like to request with the two palms together, on behalf of the ninety FPMT centers, to grant the Kalachakra initiation in Paris, as we requested at the end of the teachings at Institut Vajra Yogini in 1993.

I thought to bring up the reasons. Millions of French people became very close to Your Holiness in the last visit, including through television. So, to make that relationship more deep and stable, more meaningful.

Not only would a Kalachakra in France be a great blessing to the country, but also two or three days of preliminary teachings would benefit many people.

We will arrange it, especially if it is at the end of 1997 or at the beginning of 1998. If that time is not possible for Your Holiness' schedule, then whenever is convenient to Your Holiness, we will arrange.

Without Your Holiness, the world would be dark, not only in Tibet, but the Buddhist world would be very dark, like a body without a head (which does many important activities, talking, hearing, seeing, maybe thinking). We sentient beings would become guide-less and lost.

Therefore we deeply request Your Holiness to have a stable life for eons numberless as the drops in the ocean, to continuously guide us, myself and students, in all the lifetimes without separation from Your Holiness.

With devotion and prostrations of the three doors to Your Holiness, the Buddha of Compassion,

Thubten Zopa

PS: I would like to express thanks for your great kindness and compassion in supporting the Maitreya Project, for your Holiness' message during the function and for sending Doboom Tulku as a representative.

The function went extremely well, very smoothly. It was a great blessing that His Holiness Chobgye Trichen Rinpoche was there to recite the sutra for the two sojongs—the tashi sojong and ngo-tok sojong—and to do the puja for dispelling the obstacles and blessing the ground. We had eight Tantric College monks to do the jinsek [fire puja], and then seven monks from each monastery—Sera, Ganden, and Drepung.

We performed the thousand offerings to Maitreya twice. One good thing to inform Your Holiness: we did prayers with Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims at the function, although a Muslim person had a stroke or heart attack that morning. Theravadins and Chinese Sangha also participated. So, we tried to harmonize or unify.

The main guests were:

• His Excellency Mr. Mangala Munasinghe, High Commissioner of Sri Lanka
• Mr. K.M Singh of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India
• Shri S.C. Mukherjee, Vice-Chancellor of Magadh University
• Shri Chintu Nayak, Commissioner, Magadh Division
• Shri Rajiv Gauba, District Magistrate of Gaya

Unfortunately, although they were happy to attend, the Vice-president of India [K.R. Narayanan] and the Governor of Bihar [A.R. Kidwai] were unable to attend, due to the elections being called and a ban placed against them appearing at public gatherings.

As an offering and as entertainment we also had religious dances from Kopan and some Tibetan dancers from Kalimpong. Some Tibetan yak and lion dances were done.

We certainly hope that Your Holiness will bless the land of the Maitreya statue by placing your holy feet there and granting the precious teachings of the Heart Sutra, the Praise to Bodhicitta and the Great Chenrezig initiation, as we requested some time ago.

I am very sorry to take so much of Your Holiness’ time by informing you of all these details.

Your Holiness, Avalokiteshvara, most compassionate of all the Buddhas, originator of all living beings’ peace and happiness, great leader of peace in this world:

We, the children of the Maitreya Project Universal Education School, welcome you to Bodhgaya and Root Institute, and thank you for giving us your precious time today.

In this world filled with so much violence, wars, torture, famine, and corruption, where there are so many diseases, so many people dying of cancer and AIDS, and there is so much suffering, the purpose of Universal Education is to bring peace and happiness to all the people and animals of the world.

The objective of our school is to develop our true nature of compassion and the most precious quality of our human minds. At our school, we learn to treat everyone with tolerance and respect, to be kind to others without discrimination, and to develop the special attitude of universal responsibility.

We hope that every one of us can become the cause to bring peace and happiness into the world and to all living beings.

From the bottom of our hearts, we request your Holiness to bless us so that we can grow up in this way.

Your Holiness, we feel greatly blessed by your presence at this time. Thank you very much for making this day a most precious and memorable one.

For as long as space endures, and for as long as living beings remain, until then, may we too abide to dispel the sorrows of the world.

Your Holiness, we feel greatly blessed by your presence at this time. Thank you very much for making this day a most precious and unforgettable one.

In this world, we need so much help and guidance. Without you, this world would be a dark place. From the bottom of our hearts, we request that you have a long life. Please bless us and guide us from life to life forever.

Now we would like to sing a prayer requesting courage to relieve the suffering of others.

Thank you, your Holiness.

Myself and those of us here today, who are ordinary beings, whose minds are filled with delusion, ignorance, anger, and attachment, so that we cannot even see Guru Shakyamuni in the aspect of Buddha, Avalokiteshvara in the aspect of deity, we see their manifestation in human form because of your Holiness’s limitless, immeasurable compassion.

Just by seeing your holy body and being in your presence, we are able to receive blessings and purify so many of our defilements and negative karma. No words can express your kindness—even just for this.

Especially, we are able to hear your holy speech, granting the foundation or heart of the vast teachings of the Buddha, the most practical advice on how to live a better life, to not harm others, and to use this life only to bring happiness, as well as everlasting happiness, to others.

Definitely, your Holiness has planted the seed of nirvana, great enlightenment, within all of us. Today your Holiness has made our lives so fortunate and precious. Even if we were able to offer billions of dollars and jewels filling entire universes for eons, it would not finish repaying your Holiness’s kindness.

Your Holiness is also the source of the peace and happiness of all living beings, equaling the limitless sky, particularly in this world, working every second for this, no matter how much hardship there is.

Our Guru-ji, Lama Yeshe, the founder of this organization, the FPMT, and Tushita Meditation Centre here in Delhi, started this center and the yearly Dharma Celebration with the intention to hand back the Buddha Dharma to the people of India by requesting His Holiness [to teach].

Tibetan Buddhism came from the Arya land of India. It has been preserved and practiced by the Tibetan people. Like stars in the sky, so many Tibetan meditators became bodhisattvas and achieved enlightenment.

Even though it has been a long time since the complete form of Buddhism: the lesser vehicle, greater vehicle, and secret mantra Vajrayana, have been in India—after the six ornament Pandits there have not been such great beings—it still exists in its entirety in this world in the hearts of the Tibetan people, it did not degenerate. The whole of Buddhism entirely exists in this world by the kindness of Tibetan people and the root, His Holiness—Avalokiteshvara.

So many educated people all over the world are finding understanding of the words and meaning of Buddhism, bringing much peace and happiness in their lives, giving meaning to their lives. This is all by the kindness of the Tibetan people and the root, His Holiness—Avalokiteshvara.

It is time that the people of the motherland of India take back Buddhism, practice it, bring peace and happiness in this world, and achieve enlightenment.

I request myself, and on behalf of all here, for His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who is the source of happiness of all living beings equaling the limitless sky and particularly in this world, to have a stable life for many eons and for all your holy wishes to quickly succeed.

And definitely may we have the good fortune to continuously receive teachings in the Tushita Dharma Celebration in all future years.

I would like to thank everyone for coming today, particularly all those who made it possible, especially the organizers of Tushita, director Dr. Renuka Singh and spiritual coordinator Venerable Yeshe, and all the students and benefactors.

More talks by Lama Zopa on this topic:
Great Compassion and His Holiness the Dalai Lama
In Praise of His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama

Your Holiness,
Your example of morality in not harming but only benefiting sentient beings is incomparable in this universe.

Your compassion is the source of all sentient beings' development of the good heart.

Your power is the source of all sentient beings' happiness and peace.

Your wisdom is the source of all sentient beings' hope and of opening the Dharma wisdom eye, of learning to discriminate what is right, which is to be practiced, and what is wrong, which is to be abandoned.

If you are not the actual Compassionate-Eyed Buddha, there is no other compassionate Buddha guiding us sentient beings.

To you, the wish-granting jewel, embodiment of all the merit field, devotedly with body, speech, and mind, I, the students of the FPMT, and all sentient beings pay homage forever and seek your guidance forever.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama is Definitely the Compassion Buddha

The Supreme Refuge and Protector, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, is the one and only refuge for us transmigratory beings, the direct source of peace and happiness for all sentient beings.

Not only are the biographies of the previous Dalai Lamas, as well as this present Dalai Lama, enriched with valid quotations proving His Holiness to be Avalokiteshvara, but also this is proven by the manifest qualities of His Holiness’s holy body, speech, and mind, and of his holy activities, which pervade the infinitude of space in the nature of great compassion.

His Holiness spreads and increases the teachings of the Buddha like the rising sun, not only for the people of the East but also for the transmigratory beings in the outlying regions of the West. In those extremely extensive various places where one cannot even hear the sound of Dharma, he places sentient beings on the pure path to peace and happiness.

The founder of the Buddhadharma, Shakyamuni Buddha, is proven to be a pure and valid founder because of the fact that the teachings of the Buddha are pure and valid. The Supreme Refuge and Protector, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, is without doubt an emanation of the supreme Arya Buddha Avalokiteshvara, the Buddha of Compassion, in human aspect. This is proven because the qualities of his holy body, speech, and mind are inconceivable, and even ordinary people like us can perceive the greatness and nobility of his pure activities.

In the past, Guru Shakyamuni Buddha predicted to the bodhisattva Drib Pa Nam Sel (Eliminating Defilements) that the sentient beings of the Snowland of Tibet would be the objects to be subdued by the Compassionate Buddha, the Supreme Arya Avalokiteshvara. Likewise, the Buddha said to the bodhisattva Thaye Rig Chok, "The Compassion Buddha, the Supreme Arya Avalokiteshvara, who is going to work for the benefit of the transmigratory beings of the Snowland of Tibet—that is you. You are that bodhisattva.”

In the biographical teachings of Je Konchok Bhang it is stated, "Generally, the guide of all sentient beings will guide in the Snowland of Tibet, reigning like a king. The Savior of Tibet, the Phur Gyel country, is my heart disciple, whose holy mind is completely clear, illuminated, has no obscuration and does the work for sentient beings in a hidden way, like an ordinary being.”

This is how the Compassion Buddha, the Supreme Arya Avalokiteshvara, was predicted by the Buddha so that we would be able to see the holy face, hear the holy speech, and be guided by the Supreme Arya Avalokiteshvara with loving compassion. If that Compassion Buddha is not His Holiness the Dalai Lama, then who else could it be? There is no one else. If His Holiness is not the manifestation of the Compassion Buddha, then we cannot trust all those other reincarnations said to be emanations of this or that Buddha or Mahasiddha.

When His Holiness the Dalai Lama visited Geshe Sopa Rinpoche's center at Deer Park, one student raised this question during an interview with the organizers of the teachings, "If you say that you do not have any experience or realizations, then how can ordinary beings like ourselves ever have any hope of generating any realizations of the grounds and paths?"

That time, out of great compassion for us, His Holiness let slip that he remembered being in the Buddha’s entourage when the Buddha was in the Arya land of India. This statement proves that His Holiness is the Bodhisattva, the supreme Arya Avalokiteshvara, the Compassion Buddha.

His Holiness is not only here for Tibetans but for every one of us in this world. As His Holiness makes himself more and more available to the outside world every year, thousands and millions of people of every nationality—including Chinese, Westerners, and Indians—are able to receive guidance, happiness, and peace in their lives. Although there are many great Buddhist leaders and teachers in this world, His Holiness is incomparable in the way he is able to preserve and spread the teachings of the Buddha—the very precious teachings of the Buddha, the sole medicine eliminating the suffering of all transmigratory beings—causing them to flourish without any degeneration.

The Supreme Refuge and Protector, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, has taken on complete responsibility for world peace and for preserving the entire teachings of the Buddha. His Holiness has also taken on complete responsibility to secure spiritual and temporal freedom and independence for the six million plus Tibetans. His Holiness has undertaken activities pervading the infinitude of space for the teachings of the extremely kind Buddha and for the benefit of all transmigratory beings.

I pay homage to the compassionate Buddha, Avalokiteshvara, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, and to the sangha, and greetings to all the brothers and sisters in the audience.

The Lord Buddha was born in India two thousand five hundred and fifty years ago. He illuminated the great country India with holy Dharma, brought numberless sentient beings to peerless happiness and full enlightenment during his time and up until now, through his innumerable followers, Indian pandits and yogis, and their disciples.

Lord Buddha had made 500 prayers to be in our world during the age of quarrel and strife to guide us. That Lord Buddha who is guiding us directly is you, your Holiness. This is unimaginable, like a dream for us, today, to meet your Holiness, to see your Holiness’s body, and to hear your holy speech and feel your holy mind—endowed with oceans of wisdom and limitless skies of compassion for us sentient beings.

From the bottom of my heart I thank your Holiness for your immeasurable kindness, for this most precious teaching and blessings. Even all the galaxies filled with wish-granting jewels offered for each holy word is never enough to repay your Holiness’s kindness.

Buddha’s teachings contain the unmistaken, complete explanation by reasoning of how to achieve total liberation, by ceasing oceans of suffering of samsara, causes of karma and delusion, and negative imprints, how to achieve full enlightenment, and a complete explanation for developing compassion for all living beings.

So, your Holiness has preserved all the three vehicles of teachings of Lord Buddha.

Western scientists, educated people, non-Buddhists, and other religious people are hungry for Buddha’s teachings today. Every year those learning about Buddhism increases by tens of thousands in the world, making their lives meaningful and achieving peace and happiness in their hearts. People in this world, including us, have this great opportunity because your Holiness is living with us, with greater compassion, loving kindness, and tolerance.

No matter how much the world is filled with disasters, the selfish mind, desire, anger, and as a result, filled with sicknesses, famines, wars, and suicidal bombs, your Holiness has brought peace and happiness to the hearts of millions in this world and brought unity amongst different religious people. For this reason as well, we thank your Holiness for your great kindness.

There is no history of Lord Buddha coming to the western world to teach Dharma, but your Holiness has brought the light of Dharma all over the world. In reality, your Holiness’s kindness to us, in our lives, is greater than Lord Buddha’s and all the numberless Buddhas’.

Buddhism flourished in the Aryaland in the past, so many bodhisattvas and enlightened beings appeared, but then, with the passage of time, it degenerated and then spread in Tibet. Many bodhisattvas and enlightened beings appeared in Tibet and, finally, brought the Dharma back, to return and restore it to the Aryaland India. This is, again, totally owing to the kindness of His Holiness and the Tibetan people, who have sacrificed their lives for hundreds of years actualizing Indian Buddhism.

So, please learn teachings from His Holiness and the Tibetan masters in order to restore Buddhism in Aryaland India, and please help to fulfill all His Holiness’ wishes.

I want to thank all the audience who have taken time to attend this precious teaching.

So, we request His Holiness to have a stable life, and to return here many hundreds of times to give Buddha’s teachings again.