On 1 May, His Holiness the Dalai Lama received His Holiness the Jonang Gyaltsab Rinpoche and his Jonang delegation at his official residence in McLeod Ganj, Dharamshala, India. This special meeting had been coordinated in accordance with the sacred occasion of one of Guru Rinpoche’s Eight Manifestations, Shakya Senge, having taught the root tantra of the Kalachakra on the 15th day of the dark month in the Tibetan year of 2153 (corresponding to 1 May 2026, falling on the same day as Vesak).
The occasion is known as the Dpal Dus Kyi ‘khorlo’i Sgrub Mchod Chenmo. This refers to the great offering ceremony and ritual accomplishment practice of Kalachakra (or Kalacakra), a profound tantric system in Tibetan Buddhism. This practice focuses on the deity Kalachakra, representing the non-dual union of bliss and emptiness, and is central to the Gelug, Sakya, and Jonang traditions.
On the morning of 1 May, the Dalai Lama received devotees who had come from all over the world, including Europe, South-East Asia, India, Bhutan, Nepal, Taiwan, and other nations. A great Kalachakra ritual and offering was performed, with the Dalai Lama as the master of the assembly. Devotees from Bhutan sang prayers and Dharma songs while he held an audience.
The Jonang Gyaltsab Rinpoche, lineage holder of the Jonang tradition in exile, offered the five-peaked mountain (ritual dough offering), life vase, life pills, life alcohol, life scarf, and other items. Then, after offering a statue of the Buddha and an image of Amitabha Buddha from the two khenpos of Simla and the Nepalese Jonang monastery, the Jonang Gyaltsab Rinpoche offered a golden and silver vase in order to symbolize the unshakeable vajra-like stability of the life of the Dalai Lama.
The Dalai Lama was also was awarded the Jonang Taranatha Award by the Jonangpa. To symbolize the noble goddess Tara holding a lotus, the delegation offered a white eight‑petaled lotus made of gold and silver. Upon that, to represent the complete realization of the intent of the Three Wheels or teachings of the Buddha and the raising of the victory banner of the three baskets (Kanjur) of scripture, they offered a three‑spoked Dharma wheel made of both gold and silver to the Dalai Lama. And then, specifically to represent mastery over the entire tantric cycles, especially the Kalachakra Tantra (the king of all tantras), they offered a Jonang Taranatha emblem made of gold and silver, presented as an auspicious connection together with the tenfold Jonang system (or ten empowerments).
The Jonang delegation also made a supplication for blessings on the Dalai Lama, praying: “May His Holiness the Dalai Lama remain forever in the vajra realm of unchanging life, and may he pour without interruption the rain of sacred Dharma upon the lotus-garden of disciples.”
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དཔལ་རྒྱལ་བ་ཇོ་ནང་པ་ཡོངས་ནས་ཇོ་ནང་ཏཱ་ར་ནཱ་ཐ་གཟེངས་རྟགས་འབུལ་བཞེས་བསྐྱངས་པ། (gyalwarinpoche.com)
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