The Kalachakra Hall & Teachings

I visited India and Nepal for the first time on a Buddhist pilgrimage led by Shantum Seth in 2007. The following is from my 2008 trip, about a year later.

At four pm, we attended the Dalai Lama’s translator’s talk in the Kalachakra Hall. It was inside the temple and in the center of the second floor. We ascended a flight of stairs and turned left. We passed a hall where someone was teaching a crowd in the Tibetan language. Outside the double doors leading into the Kalachakra Hall were shoe racks, and we took off our shoes and lined them up on the wooden racks before setting foot inside the vast thangka-decorated hall.

The room has several columns that, like the walls, display colorful thangkas, Tibetan Buddhist hangings framed in traditional and colorful brocade. The floors are covered with cloth, which in turn is covered with meditation cushions. Everyone entering picks a cushion, and we sat along one wall, closer to the back than the front.

The Dalai Lama’s translator, a younger monk in burgundy robes, appeared at the front of the hall. He’s a Geshe, which is a Tibetan Buddhist title — the equivalent of a Ph.D. Some Tibetans prostrated themselves, and he told them that wasn’t necessary. He fortunately used a microphone and spoke clear English in a pleasant voice. In fact, his is the same voice speaking English on the radio during the…