The Dalai Lama's Gift
The
Dalai Lama's Gift
The Filmmaker's Approach
Producer/director Ed Bastian envisioned this documentary as the immersion into a moment in time, contained in the understanding of an ancient ritual. Enriched by the music of Emmy-nominated Tibetan composer, Nawang Khechog, the film unfolds like a lotus blossom with 5 petals:
🪷 The emergence of Buddhism in America during the 197Os, a time when young seekers, as interviewee Roger Jackson describes, searched for “a wisdom that would transcend all the troubles of the West.”
🪷 The challenges of orchestrating this extraordinary event within a tight timeframe, in a community that was both unfamiliar with, and wary of, Buddhism.
🪷 A behind-the-scenes look at the intricate preparations, including the creation of the breathtaking sand mandala.
🪷 A deep exploration of Tibetan Buddhist principles and the transformative power of this ancient tradition, with a glimpse into the complexity of the Kalachakra ritual (The Wheel of Time) and the symbolic meanings of its deities and teachings.
🪷 Personal accounts from the initiates, whose lives were forever changed by the experience of their personal connection with His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
The result is a compelling narrative that not only tells a remarkable story, but also offers an inspiring window into Tibetan Buddhism through the lens of the Kalachakra.
Perspectives
The story of the 1981 Kalachakra is told
through the voices of distinguished scholars,
and the initiates who participated in the 1981 Kalachakra.
Personal interviews of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, filmed in 1981, throughout the preparation and the event. He shares with wisdom and humor his own challenges in giving this intricate ritual for only the 7th time in his life.
Geshe Sopa was the monk that made it all happen. He twice requested to the Dalai Lama to come to Wisconsin to do the Kalachakra, and finally His Holiness agreed. The filmmakers followed him in his determination to bring so many elements together to make this event a reality. He passed away in 2014.
Co-producer and translator Sharpa Tulka shares his experience in 1981, and in the present day — the challenges of interpreting ancient Tibetan texts into words that Americans will understand and relate to.
A young monk that accompanied the Dalai Lama in 1981, Losang Samten is now a venerable lama, and an authority on the creation of the intricate sand mandala. He is our guide in understanding the Kalachakra in all its richness.
José Cabezón was living as a monk in India in 1981. Today he is Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at UC Santa Barbara. In both 1981 and the current day, he provides an expert understanding of what he sees as a watershed event for the history of Buddhism in the US.
Roger Jackson, Phd, attended the 1981 Kalachakra. Today he is a professor of Asian Studies & Religion at Carleton College and Maitripa College. He gives the historical and philosophical context of the Kalachakra inititation.
Jan Willis, PhD, was a student of philosophy in 1981 and came to take the Kalachakra along with more than a thousand other young seekers. Today she is Professor Emerita of Religion at Wesleyan University.
Vesna Wallace, PhD, is professor of Religious Studies at UC Santa Barbara, and the author of “The Kālacakratantra: The Chapter on Sādhana together with the Vimalaprabhā.” She helps us understand the meaning and depth of the Kalachakra ritual.
Jeffrey Hopkins, PhD, was the translator for the Dalai Lama during the 1981 Kalachakra initiation. He went on to become the president of UMA Institute for Tibetan Studies and an expert on the Kalachakra. He passed away 2O23.
David Patt, PhD, was a student of Geshe Sopa and one of the translators of the Tibetan text. He is the author of “A Strange Liberation: Tibetan Lives in Chinese Hands.” He is one of our guides into understanding the complexity of the Kalachakra.
Beth Newman was a student of Geshe Sopa’s. She one of a handful of students that were asked to wear special costumes to represent the deities. Today she is the author and translator of books on Buddhism, including “The Tibetan Book of Everyday Wisdom.”
Brian Grabia was a student of Geshe Sopa and a monk living in Switzerland. He came to Madison Wisconsin for the Kalachakra. Today, he is a psychotherapist with a Buddhist orientation, and shares his insight and understanding of Buddhism.
Dr Zorba Paster was a student of Geshe Sopa and a medical doctor. He was one of a handful of students who were asked to wear special costumes to represent the deities and shares that experience with us.
Lhundup Tendron was a student of Geshe Sopa, and in 2OO2 she achieved her dream of taking ordination as a Buddhist nun with him. Today, she passes on her knowledge as a student of the teachings of the Buddha, Lama Yeshe, Lama Zopa Rinpoche and all her teachers.
Distinguished Advisors
Daniel Aiken
Laura Harrington
Gavin Kilty
John R. Newman
Arjia Rinpoche
Yangsi Rinpoche
Jhado Rinpoche
Robert Thurman
The Kalachaka
The Dalai Lama's Gift to the World
The Kalachakra, or Wheel of Time, initiation is generally regarded as the most famous of all Tibetan Buddhist Tantric empowerments. It contains awe-inspiring art, an intricately colorful sand mandala, deity costuming, and entrancing music that inspire the imaginal practices required to achieve enlightened wisdom and compassion to end suffering and to create peace in the world.
It is believed to have been taught 2500 years ago by the Buddha to the king of Shambhala and was finally returned to India and Tibet in the 11th Century CE. Now, a thousand years later, its profound meaning will be revealed to a global television and digital screening audience.
In July of 1981, history was made as the Dalai Lama presented the Wheel of Time (Kalachakra) Initiation in the US at Deer Park Monastery near Madison, Wisconsin. It was the first time it had been presented outside Tibet or India. This majestic ceremony imbued Western participants with the transcendent practices that could lead them to perfect enlightenment. This event was to become one of thirty-four Kalachakra initiations bestowed on over a million people throughout the world.
This film will tell the story of a journey of discovery of the meaning and purpose of the Wheel of Time, why it was first bestowed by the Dalai Lama at Deer Park Monastery, its impact on the initiates, the challenges overcome by the organizers and its seminal role in the transmission of Tibetan Buddhism to America and the world.
In 1981, film director Dr. Ed Bastian, working closely with coproducer Sharpa Tulku, Geshe Sopa and the Monks of Namgyal Monastery, assembled a film team to document this event, including the extensive preparations in India and the US, the construction of the first Kalachakra Temple in America, and the initiation itself. The footage includes interviews with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Geshe Lhundup Sopa (the US host and organizer), as well as American initiates, many of whom would later become significant Buddhist teachers. Additional footage shot in 2016 and 2022-3 includes interviews with world-renowned experts and participants who attended the event in 1981, and a first-ever animation of the majestic three-dimensional mandala to be imagined by initiates and viewers in the seven-step initiation. Our film will document the historic merger of ancient mystical Buddhist practices into Western culture and its impact on millions of people.
The narrative structure will weave together the original documentary footage and our journey to discover the Kalachakra’s hidden meaning and practices. We will reveal the town council opposition and then gradual welcoming by local neighbors whose suspicion of Buddhism nearly stopped the event. We will witness the completion of America’s first Kalachakra temple constructed by volunteers in the weeks leading up to the event. We will hear participants sharing their motivations for embracing Buddhism, for engaging in the Kalachakra, and its impact on their personal and professional lives. We will hear world renowned Tibetan and Western experts reveal how this seven-stage initiation is designed to purify the causes of suffering and usher in an era of global peace.
The original footage was shot in 1981. But, unable to immediately complete the film, Ed Bastian deposited the twenty-five hours of 16 mm color film in the Smithsonian Institution Film Archives for its preservation. Happily, the content and the quality are extremely well preserved, and we have now assembled an excellent production and editing team to complete the project. The film has been digitized, and we have conducted interviews with original participants and world-renowned experts who will bring this story to life.