The Sakya Trizin
The Sakya Trizin will give the Vajrakilaya Initiation on July 29 morning at the Sakya Phuntsok Ling, 354 Prelude Drive in Silver Spring (301) 592 9286. Vajrakilaya is a wrathful deity that purifies obstacles and destroys negativity. Avalokiteshvara Initiation
He will bestow the Chenresig (Avalokiteshvara) Initiation in the evening of July 29 at the Cambodian Buddhist Temple, 13800 New Hampshire Avenue in Silver Spring. Avalokiteshvara is the embodiment of all the Buddhas’ great compassion.
He will bestow Green Tara and White Tara Initiations on July 30, 2003 at the Cambodian Buddhist Temple.
The Sakya Trizin arrived in the United States in June and has since then been visiting Hawaii, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, and New Jersey. He is scheduled to visit Boston in the second week of August. He is visiting Italy in the second half of August before returning to his seat in India.
The Sakya Order is one of the four major traditions of Tibetan Buddhism.During his current tour of the United States, the Sakya Trizin has consecrated Tsechen Kunchab Ling in Catskill Mountains in the Village of Walden, in Orange County, New York, the new seat of the Sakya tradition in the United States. “His Holiness’ consecration of his U.S. temple seat and residence there during the summer of 2003 marks a turning point in the development of the Dharma in the United States and opportunities for English-speaking students. This is the first time that the head of one of the four orders of Tibetan Buddhism has resided at his U.S. seat and bestowed a major teaching cycle, ” says Lama Kalsang Gyaltsen, vice president of Tsechen Kunchab Ling and head of Sakya Phuntsok Ling in the Washington, D.C. area, which is hosting the Sakya Trizin here.
The Sakya Trizin was born on September 7, 1945 in Tibet. He lost both of his parents at a very early age and was subsequently cared for by his maternal aunt. At the age of five he went to the monastery of Ngor E-wam Choden for further teaching.
In 1951 he was taken on pilgrimage to Lhasa, where he formally received the title of Sakya Trizin (the Throne-holder of Sakya) from the Dalai Lama – thus becoming the forty-first holder of this position. At the age of 11 he again journeyed to Lhasa where he received teachings from the Dalai Lama at the Potala Palace. In 1959 at the age of 14 he was formally enthroned as the Sakya Trizin. In the wake of the Chinese invasion, the Sakya Trizin had to leave for Sikkim and subsequently to India.
After arriving in India in 1959, the Sakya Trizin first found a monastery in Darjeeling while continuing his studies. He subsequently moved to Rajpur area and in 1964 began the task of re-establishing the headquarters of the Sakya lineage of Tibetan Buddhism.
In 1974, the Sakya Trizin married Dagmo Kusho Tashi Lhakee and their first son, Ratna Vajra, was born the same year. A second son, Gyana Vajra, was born in 1979.
The Sakya Trizin travels extensively throughout the world as well as within the Tibetan community in the Indian subcontinent.