Tour of Peace

Peace is defined as a period where war is not present, however we all know that its meaning is deeper, because peace is a state of just being as well.

I realise that His Eminence Shyalpa Tenzin Rinpoche knows this better than most of us. He says that “unconditional” love is the foundation for peace and tells us about the sacrifice made by Queen Mayadevi, who knowing that she will not survive after delivering her son, decided to give birth anyway and thanks to her taking the role of mother responsibly by expressing unconditional love for her son is that Lord Buddha was able to grace the world with his presence and teachings on this earth.

The construction of the Universal Peace Sanctuary is based on this profound axiom. Lasting Peace is not possible without unconditional love and with this in mind is that H.E. Rinpoche is undertaking a Peace World Tour.

Before going any further, let’s remember what the project is all about. In 2013, the Nepalese government entrusted Rinpoche and his charity organisations in the US and Asia with the mission of building a Peace Sanctuary in Lumbini, Nepal, the birthplace of Buddha. Along these years, His Eminence Rinpoche has raised awareness and received some donations to build the Sanctuary, which is under construction.

This year 2022, Rinpoche has just completed the first sixty days of the tour. He started his journey in Abu Dhabi, and at the request of one prominent patron, Rinpoche and monks performed a Fish Liberation Ritual, where fish are liberated into the ocean as an act of compassion, which brings long life and good karma.

The trip continued in Costa Rica, where Rinpoche visited the University for Peace and inaugurated a crowd funding app and offered teachings and meditations to local people.

After Costa Rica, His Eminence was invited by the cities of Cambridge and Boston in United States to talk about the Peace Sanctuary project. Rinpoche was honoured by the Mayors of both cities, who offered him the golden keys to their respective cities. Rinpoche addressed the Senate live session and received a long standing ovation from members of the congress.

Rinpoche proceeded to Los Angeles afterwards and participated in numerous activities with supporters and Hollywood movie stars. One of the highlights of his time in California was the celebration of Buddha’s Jayanti or Buddha’s birthday, with shower of blessings, where prayers are recited and mantras are chanted together.

His Eminence Rinpoche then traveled to London, UK, where he gave several profound speeches.

I want to share with you here a few extracts of those speeches, because they capture essential concepts related to peace and the sanctuary.