As the Dalai Lama left Bodhgaya, India, the site of his 10 day teaching and initiation into the Kalachakra tantra, tens of thousands of people continued on with their pilgrimage or started their slow journeys back home, bit all of them reflecting on the experience of the last ten days. People had converged on Bodhgaya from 63 countries around the world, including more than 8000 from Tibet, most of whom had never seen the Dalai Lama or not laid eyes on him since 1959. And in a growing trend of interest in Tibetan Buddhism by Chinese people, thousands of them had come from all over Asia, including 1300 from the PRC.
The feelings of many of the Tibetans who made the difficult and sometimes dangerous journey from Tibet to attend the Dalai Lama’s sermons were expressed by one old gentleman from Kham Mi-nyag who said “My fatherland is under Chinese occupation and I will never be able to come again but this time I am fortunate and happy to have listened to His Holiness and met many high Lamas including Karmapa and Sakya Gongma”. And a young monk from Seramey monastery when asked what he gained the most from this Kalachakra experience said “This time I have gained a lot. I have taken the pledge to meditate on Sunyata (emptiness) and Bodhicitta (compassion) at least once in a day.”