A Page from the Quarterly Bulletin of the
Continental Board of Counsellors in Central Asia
NO : 3, July-September 1978.

(For distribution among the Auxiliary Board members in South Central Asia
 only and for the members of the National Assemblies for  their information.)

MESSAGE GIVEN TO HIS HOLINESS KARMAPA,
ONE OF THE FOUR HEADS OF BUDDHISM.

On our recent visit to Rumtek, we could give the glad tidings of the appearance of 'The promised one' to His Holiness Karmapa, one of the four Heads of Buddhists. He is accepted by the Buddhists as the sixteenth Avatara or Incarnation of a great Tibetan Saint, and is the present head of the Kagyupda sect of Tibetan Buddhism. After China took over Tibet, he brought his 'Holy Crown' to Sikkim and established his monastery in Rumtek. Today almost, all the visitors to Sikkim go to see this famous Monastry popularly known as Rumtek Monastery.

After visiting the historic monastery which is full of antiques, we requested his secretary for a short interview with His Holiness Karmapa. Our request was accepted and after a short while, we were taken to His Holiness who was along with his disciples busy in singing Holy Hymns. As we approached him, he blessed in reciting some prayer in Tibetan language. We told him about our mission, conveying to him greetings from the Bahá'í world. We told him of the most wonderful of all events to occur in our age ; the appearance of most Majestic personality on earth, the Promised one of all ages. We also told him about the wonderful massage of Baha'u'llah about unity of men, religious and nations. After the secretary translated this, we presented to him some Bahá'í books in Tibetan, Nepali and English. His Holiness read a few lines form Bahá'í message in Tibetan and said, 'Very good, very good' in English ; Thus, the Message 'He who is the sovereign Lord of all is come' was given to His Holiness Karmapa.

After giving the Message to His Holiness, we had an opportunity to talk to the secretary and some other 'Lamas' (in the monastery itself) over a cup of tea. We explained to them some of the prophecies from Buddhist scriptures about the coming of Maitrya-Amitabha. They told us that they also believed that very soon world will be changed to a new one and that the appearance of a manifestation of God was at hand. What more could we tell them except that what they were expecting to happen in future had already happened.

By Auxiliary Board member Mr. Anil Sarwal

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