His Holiness will confer the Heruka Initiation of the Luipa Tradition (dechok luipa wang) in the mornings at the request of Gyudmey and Gyuto Tantric Colleges in Dharamsala (venue to be confirmed). July 8 will be the Preliminary Initiation and July 9 and 10 will be the Actual Initiation.On the morning of June 1 and 2, His Holiness will give a two-day teaching on Tsongkhapa's In Praise of Dependent Origination (tendrel toepa) in the mornings for Tibetan Youth at the Main Tibetan Temple.
Editor’s note: Heruka (“blood-drinker”) is the name of a category of wrathful deities, enlightened beings in Vajrayana Buddhism that adopt a fierce countenance to benefit sentient beings. In East Asia, these are called Wisdom Kings.
Heruka represents wrathful imagery with indivisible emptiness (śūnyatā), bliss, peace, wisdom, compassion (bodhicitta), and love. Herukas represent unified consciousness, with emptiness being a reflection of "non-phenomena" or emptiness which is "all love," or removal of imagery to reach universal love, mercy, and compassion-mind.
