By Kelsang Draggo.
Tibetan community of Chicago invited Keutsang Rinpoche from November 12-14. Mr. Tsering Chonjor ,president of Tibetan community hosted welcome dinner at his residence for Rinpoche and his attendant on Friday evening.
On Saturday 13, Rinpoche gave “ Hayagriva empowerment “ to the community at Lake Street Church in Evanston between 1pm to 3pm. From 4pm *4.30pm Rinpoche talked about his experience in Tibet especially about his 20 years imprisonment. Actually Rinpoche has written a book about his experience in Tibet and it is translated into English.
On Sunday the 14, (10am-12pm) Rinpoche was invited by TibetCenter run by Mr. Tsering Tashi, a former official of Tibetan Govt. in exile. Program was exclusively for non-Tibetans. Between 1.30pm-3.30pm Rinpoche had prayer with the Tibetan community at our own community center. After the prayer Rinpoche gave advice especially directed to the children and ended the gathering with Q&A session from religion to diaspora of Tibetans. Mr. Gawa la and Mr. Sonam la assisted Rinpoche during all the religious ceremonies. Numerous families invited Rinpoche to their new homes for blessing and good luck. Mr. Kelsang Draggo and family hosted and chaperoned Rinpoche during his entire stay in Chicago.
Author Dougla’s A. Wissing’s program
The author of the just released book “ Pioneer in Tibet: The life and Perils of Dr. Albert Shelton” Mr. Douglas Wissing was invited by the Tibetan community in Chicago for two days from November 12 to 13. His pre-arranged interview with National Public Radio ( NPR) on Friday was postponed due to Yasser Arafat’s death. Author’s program started just after Rinpoche’s empowerment ceremony at the same venue. He presented slides with running commentary about his recent trip to Eastern part of Tibet where Dr. Shelton spent most of his time in early 1900s. The program ended with Q&A and book signing. He signed my book saying “Hope you will enjoy a book about your country.” After-program-get-to-know-more-about-author was hosted by Mr. Tom Duggan and Mrs. Tsering Yankyi’s family at their residence. This informal Tibetan hospitality lasted long into wee hours.
