Last stop in Europe—Switzerland
Switzerland was the last country His Holiness visited in Europe. As the number of birds accompanying him had by then greatly increased, he entered the Confederation through a very remote border-crossing to avoid further trouble, and indeed nobody asked for the normally required vaccination documents, etc. (See details on the video account of Georgina and Étienne de Swarte below).
But it was not only the number of birds that had increased, so too had the number of his human followers: Behind the bus in which Karmapa traveled was a trail of cars “that grew longer every day. Everywhere we stopped, Europeans of all ages and descriptions were so moved by their experience of His Holiness that they would drop whatever they were doing to follow him,” as Lama Lodu remembers. By the time the party reached Switzerland, he counted “a hundred vehicles from a dozen different countries.”[1]
In the 1960s Switzerland had been the only European country to allow a large number of Tibetan refugees to settle, in Rikon near Winterthur. Karmapa visited those thousand refugees and almost all of them came, well-dressed and in cheerful spirits, with their children to the Black Crown Ceremony: “They were so happy to meet His Holiness and hear the pūjās,” Sister Palmo commented.
During this visit His Holiness made an important decision for the spread of the Dharma in Europe. As mentioned earlier, even during his travels Karmapa slept only a few hours, if at all.[2] Thus, as frequently happened, it was in the middle of the night—the people around Karmapa had to live with this—when he made his announcement to Jigme Rinpoche:
“At 4:30 a.m. I got a phone call half asleep. It was Karmapa. He told me: “You have to stay in Europe and go back to Dordogne!” I was a little surprised and said “Yes!” I didn’t ask for a reason. (After the call Jigme Rinpoche went back to bed.) When I woke up later I wondered if this was a dream or real. I was not sure until Karmapa came back to Geneva. It turned out to be real! He told me to go to Dordogne and he would send some qualified Lamas, this was very important.”[3]
In Geneva a final meeting of the future center directors was held with, among others: Étienne and Georgina Deswarte, Denis Eysseric (Lama Denys Teundroup), Rose-Marie Mengual, Bernard Benson, Jacques Bensoam, Ole & Hannah Nydahl, Erwan Temple, Jean-Pierre Schnetzler, and others. At this meeting, Karmapa asked the latter to establish a legal federation of the existing centers in France.[4]
On the 3rd of February, the Karmapa gave the last Black Crown Ceremony on the European continent, along with an empowerment on Padmasambhava in his Eight Aspects. Just as Padmasambhava, called the “second Buddha” by Tibetans, had implanted the Dharma in Tibet, His Holiness had done much the same during the five months he had traveled on this first trip to Europe, which was now ending.
At the airport in Geneva just before leaving for India, Karmapa told his European students the news that he would send lamas to the West to support the development of Buddhism. He made Jigme Rinpoche his European and Tenzin Chönyi his American representative and added:
“I leave you my two heart sons. And I will send you my greatest meditation master—Lama Gendün Rinpoche.”[5]
Then he boarded the plane.
Nothing was as before…
After Karmapa’s first journey to the West nothing was as before: In the US he had profoundly inspired the already existing organizations of Chögyam Trungpa and Kalu Rinpoche and their students. Meeting with the Native Americans had revitalized an important spiritual bond. In Canada he had deeply motivated the Sanghas of Kalu, Karma Trinley and Namgyal Rinpoches. In England he had initiated a new stage in the development of Dharma there. Everywhere he had laid the foundations for his organizations[6], and land had been offered for his European and American seats. Thus, during this first trip, he had already gathered the external conditions for the further expansion and spread of the Dharma in the West.
While prior to his tour only a few groups and centers were operating, many of the tens of thousands of people who met the Karmapa during his journey entered the Buddhist path, started to practice, or took resolutions to use their lives in more meaningful and helpful ways. In the following years Dharma centers and groups mushroomed everywhere. Many people began to make the Dharma the focal point of their lives. Surely the words of Chögyam Trungpa are true for all the countries Karmapa visited:
“The visit of His Holiness Karmapa to the United States in 1974 has brought the potent force of his lineage here, consecrating this land for the reception of the Buddha’s teaching of enlightenment. An event of extraordinary power (…) touched the psychological atmosphere of the country with the actual fact of enlightenment. Through the great spiritual wealth of his lineage, His Holiness empowered this land to receive the awakened intelligence of the Buddha’s teaching.”[7]
At the same time he had shown that he possessed the qualities of a Buddha. Jigme Rinpoche:
“Gyalwa Karmapa’s first steps in the western world were really like the appearance of Buddha himself. Since Gyalwa Karmapa first visited North America and Europe the Dharma has spread over the entire world. One cannot comprehend this in its full importance; it is immeasurable.”[8]
Karmapa himself commented on his visit to the West with the following words:
“It was my first visit to the West and these civilizations’ great material and technological progress have made a great impression on me. But wherever I have traveled, in all the places I have seen, I met people who showed that Dharma is spreading here, more and more people here accept the Dharma. Many are drawn to it and people find what they need in the Dharma. As this happens, it is a sign that the seeds sown here in previous lives are now taking root.
In the past the conditions were best in Tibet, now they seem better in the West. Chenrezi’s (Avalokiteśvara’s) light, Buddha’s light now seems to shine in the West.”[9]
(© From: Gerd Bausch: Radiant Compassion. The Life of the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa, www.edition-karuna.de. Please feel free to share the extract, but give the source. Many thanks!)
(Footnotes on the buttom of the page)
Switzerland was the last country His Holiness visited in Europe. As the number of birds accompanying him had by then greatly increased, he entered the Confederation through a very remote border-crossing to avoid further trouble, and indeed nobody asked for the normally required vaccination documents, etc. (See details on the video account of Georgina and Étienne de Swarte below).
But it was not only the number of birds that had increased, so too had the number of his human followers: Behind the bus in which Karmapa traveled was a trail of cars “that grew longer every day. Everywhere we stopped, Europeans of all ages and descriptions were so moved by their experience of His Holiness that they would drop whatever they were doing to follow him,” as Lama Lodu remembers. By the time the party reached Switzerland, he counted “a hundred vehicles from a dozen different countries.”[1]
In the 1960s Switzerland had been the only European country to allow a large number of Tibetan refugees to settle, in Rikon near Winterthur. Karmapa visited those thousand refugees and almost all of them came, well-dressed and in cheerful spirits, with their children to the Black Crown Ceremony: “They were so happy to meet His Holiness and hear the pūjās,” Sister Palmo commented.
During this visit His Holiness made an important decision for the spread of the Dharma in Europe. As mentioned earlier, even during his travels Karmapa slept only a few hours, if at all.[2] Thus, as frequently happened, it was in the middle of the night—the people around Karmapa had to live with this—when he made his announcement to Jigme Rinpoche:
“At 4:30 a.m. I got a phone call half asleep. It was Karmapa. He told me: “You have to stay in Europe and go back to Dordogne!” I was a little surprised and said “Yes!” I didn’t ask for a reason. (After the call Jigme Rinpoche went back to bed.) When I woke up later I wondered if this was a dream or real. I was not sure until Karmapa came back to Geneva. It turned out to be real! He told me to go to Dordogne and he would send some qualified Lamas, this was very important.”[3]
In Geneva a final meeting of the future center directors was held with, among others: Étienne and Georgina Deswarte, Denis Eysseric (Lama Denys Teundroup), Rose-Marie Mengual, Bernard Benson, Jacques Bensoam, Ole & Hannah Nydahl, Erwan Temple, Jean-Pierre Schnetzler, and others. At this meeting, Karmapa asked the latter to establish a legal federation of the existing centers in France.[4]
On the 3rd of February, the Karmapa gave the last Black Crown Ceremony on the European continent, along with an empowerment on Padmasambhava in his Eight Aspects. Just as Padmasambhava, called the “second Buddha” by Tibetans, had implanted the Dharma in Tibet, His Holiness had done much the same during the five months he had traveled on this first trip to Europe, which was now ending.
At the airport in Geneva just before leaving for India, Karmapa told his European students the news that he would send lamas to the West to support the development of Buddhism. He made Jigme Rinpoche his European and Tenzin Chönyi his American representative and added:
“I leave you my two heart sons. And I will send you my greatest meditation master—Lama Gendün Rinpoche.”[5]
Then he boarded the plane.
Nothing was as before…
After Karmapa’s first journey to the West nothing was as before: In the US he had profoundly inspired the already existing organizations of Chögyam Trungpa and Kalu Rinpoche and their students. Meeting with the Native Americans had revitalized an important spiritual bond. In Canada he had deeply motivated the Sanghas of Kalu, Karma Trinley and Namgyal Rinpoches. In England he had initiated a new stage in the development of Dharma there. Everywhere he had laid the foundations for his organizations[6], and land had been offered for his European and American seats. Thus, during this first trip, he had already gathered the external conditions for the further expansion and spread of the Dharma in the West.
While prior to his tour only a few groups and centers were operating, many of the tens of thousands of people who met the Karmapa during his journey entered the Buddhist path, started to practice, or took resolutions to use their lives in more meaningful and helpful ways. In the following years Dharma centers and groups mushroomed everywhere. Many people began to make the Dharma the focal point of their lives. Surely the words of Chögyam Trungpa are true for all the countries Karmapa visited:
“The visit of His Holiness Karmapa to the United States in 1974 has brought the potent force of his lineage here, consecrating this land for the reception of the Buddha’s teaching of enlightenment. An event of extraordinary power (…) touched the psychological atmosphere of the country with the actual fact of enlightenment. Through the great spiritual wealth of his lineage, His Holiness empowered this land to receive the awakened intelligence of the Buddha’s teaching.”[7]
At the same time he had shown that he possessed the qualities of a Buddha. Jigme Rinpoche:
“Gyalwa Karmapa’s first steps in the western world were really like the appearance of Buddha himself. Since Gyalwa Karmapa first visited North America and Europe the Dharma has spread over the entire world. One cannot comprehend this in its full importance; it is immeasurable.”[8]
Karmapa himself commented on his visit to the West with the following words:
“It was my first visit to the West and these civilizations’ great material and technological progress have made a great impression on me. But wherever I have traveled, in all the places I have seen, I met people who showed that Dharma is spreading here, more and more people here accept the Dharma. Many are drawn to it and people find what they need in the Dharma. As this happens, it is a sign that the seeds sown here in previous lives are now taking root.
In the past the conditions were best in Tibet, now they seem better in the West. Chenrezi’s (Avalokiteśvara’s) light, Buddha’s light now seems to shine in the West.”[9]
(© From: Gerd Bausch: Radiant Compassion. The Life of the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa, www.edition-karuna.de. Please feel free to share the extract, but give the source. Many thanks!)
(Footnotes on the buttom of the page)
Last group photo before leaving the continent. Photo: ©
Dr. Andrea Loseries-Leick.
Dr. Andrea Loseries-Leick.
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Karmapa visits the Tibet exhibition, Etnographic Museum Zurich, NZN, 21 Jan 1975.
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[1] Lama Lodu Rinpoche’s Autobiography, part 14, on: www.kdk.org/lama-lodu-bio-14.html
[2] It is said that sometimes he even did not sleep at all and by night for example took care of his birds. See: Interview with Lama Namgyal in Vol. 2.
[3] Jigme Rinpoche, Talk at the inauguration…, op. cit.
[4] This was later done, but under the authority of Kalu Rinpoche and not the Karmapa. Notes of Erwan Temple.
[5] Interview with G. and É. de Swarte, Les Cotonas, St. Juste-Malemort, July 2011.
[6] In Geneva, shortly before his departure, Karmapa held the founding meeting of the European Kagyü Trust.
[7] Trungpa Rinpoche: Empowerment. The Visit of H.H. the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa, op. cit., p. 29.
[8] Jigme Rinpoche: Guru Yoga of the Gyalwa Karmapa, Buddhism Today Nr. 37, Spring/Summer 2016.
[9] Erik Meier Carlson: Buddhas lys shine nu over de vestlige lande [Buddha’s Light Now Shines also in the West], Information, Copenhagen, Dec 23th, 1974.
[2] It is said that sometimes he even did not sleep at all and by night for example took care of his birds. See: Interview with Lama Namgyal in Vol. 2.
[3] Jigme Rinpoche, Talk at the inauguration…, op. cit.
[4] This was later done, but under the authority of Kalu Rinpoche and not the Karmapa. Notes of Erwan Temple.
[5] Interview with G. and É. de Swarte, Les Cotonas, St. Juste-Malemort, July 2011.
[6] In Geneva, shortly before his departure, Karmapa held the founding meeting of the European Kagyü Trust.
[7] Trungpa Rinpoche: Empowerment. The Visit of H.H. the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa, op. cit., p. 29.
[8] Jigme Rinpoche: Guru Yoga of the Gyalwa Karmapa, Buddhism Today Nr. 37, Spring/Summer 2016.
[9] Erik Meier Carlson: Buddhas lys shine nu over de vestlige lande [Buddha’s Light Now Shines also in the West], Information, Copenhagen, Dec 23th, 1974.
