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2,500 years ago

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Prince Siddharta Gautama

set out from his home in the foothills of the Himalayas

and embarked on a journey in search of the truth.

Many years later,

he arrived in the lowlands of the Ganges river

near the village of Bodh Gaya.

The scene must have been very similar to the one we see here.

He sat down under a tree and attained enlightenment.

Since then he has been known as the Buddha, The Enlightened One.

WHEEL OF TIME

A FILM BY WERNER HERZOG

KALACHAKRA INITIATION 2002 (BODH GAYA, INDIA / GRAZ, AUSTRIA)

WITH THE COLLABORATION OF HIS HOLINESS, THE XIV DALAI LAMA

For the Buddhist world, this is sacred ground.

Pilgrims flock here from across the world.

The modern-day village of Bodh Gaya

still has a bustling market, rickshaws and beggars.

The temple in the background,

called a stupa,

marks the spot where the Buddha sat in meditation.

His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, has called upon the Buddhist world

to gather here for the Kalachakra Initiation.

This ceremony takes place at a specially designated location,

at irregular intervals, around every two to three years.

Half a million pilgrims heeded the call.

No other religious event

is so eagerly anticipated by Buddhist followers.

At the base of the stupa stands the Bodhi Tree,

The Tree of Enlightenment.

It is the fifth-generation descendant of the original tree.

Monks have gathered under its branches

to prepare for the ceremonies.

Kalachakra literally means "wheel of time".

Kalachakra involves a complex initiation rite

which aims to activate the seed of enlightenment,

lying dormant in all living beings.

Butter lamps symbolize this enlightenment.

The central ritual revolves around the creation of a picture,

known as a Sand Mandala.

It depicts an inner landscape,

which represents the Wheel of Time.

It is viewed as a Buddha's dwelling, comprising more than 700 deities

or manifestations of Buddha nature.

The Sand Mandala is so complex

that we turned to the Dalai Lama for further explanation.

The Kalachakra Initiation is comprised of teachings,

prayers, the composition of a Sand Mandala,

and the initiation itself.

500,000 believers will assemble here over the next ten days and nights.

The pilgrims have travelled great distances

from Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan.

From the steppes of Mongolia. From Thailand and Sri Lanka.

They have journeyed thousands of kilometres by truck.

But many pilgrims from central Tibet completed their voyage on foot.

A number of these pilgrims

covered the entire journey in this way.

On the second day of festivities we met this monk.

He walked over 4,000 km, prostrating himself at every step,

all the way from the Amdo province,

far beyond the Tibet Autonomous Region.

He explains that his journey lasted over three and a half years.

He comes from such a remote region

that his dialect has to be translated twice.

Firstly into standard Tibetan, and then once again for us.

On his journey, he experienced hunger, thirst, heat and cold.

Word spread about his pilgrimage.

Sometimes nomads would approach him

and offer him water and something to eat.

He prefers not to make a fuss about his voyage.

Ganglions began to form on his hands

although he wore wooden clogs to protect them.

Touching the ground several million times

left a wound on his forehead which has yet to heal.

Would he like to comment on his journey?

"Yes," he replies, " I have learned of the magnitude of the earth."

"I measured it with my body, from head to toe.

Now I understand."

He battled on tirelessly

and now a deep serenity has descended upon him

having reached The Tree of Enlightenment.

The Sand Mandala will be created in a specially enclosed area.

The Mandala will be assembled on this surface.

Before work begins, the surface must be consecrated.

The teaching and prayer area is situated directly outside.

The area is presided over by high-ranking lamas.

The Dalai Lama should be conducting the teachings,

but he has fallen ill

and is unable to attend the first few days.

Back to the stupa, only a few hundred metres away.

Pilgrims flock to this pillar,

believing it to possess curative powers.

At the stupa, pilgrims circle the inner sanctum.

Others are immersed in prayer or meditation.

Work on the Sand Mandala has commenced.

The Dalai Lama would normally construct the initial lines.

However, he is still in bad health

and learned monks must proceed without him.

At the centre of the pattern lies the Wheel of Time.

Whole libraries exist on the Mandala's symbols

to help guide the monks through its intricate maze.

Facing The Tree of Enlightenment,

the faithful perform prostrations.

Their goal is to repeat this 100,000 times.

The fittest among them will manage this in about six weeks.

One of the learned monks has the privilege

of defending his doctoral thesis on Buddhist philosophy

in public under the Bodhi Tree.

He is the monk sitting on the right.

The debate unfolds in a manner typical of Tibetan monastic life.

The scholarly debate revolves around two aspects of reality.

The functional reality of our everyday life

and emptiness

which is viewed in Buddhist teachings

as the ultimate reality.

The debate is adjourned for lunch without reaching a conclusive outcome.

In the sprawling tent cities around Bodh Gaya,

monks are assigned various tasks in the kitchen.

The brethren each take it in turns to do particular chores.

As night falls,

the debate gets into full swing.

As the Sand Mandala symbolizes the blueprint of an inner universe,

the vision of a sacred cosmos,

we felt compelled

to visit the most sacred of all Buddhist sites,

Mount Kailash.

The holy mountain, located in Western Tibet,

is venerated in equal measure by both Buddhists and Hindus,

who consider it to be the seat of the deity Shiva.

Long before the existence of Buddhism,

followers of the Tibetan Bön religion venerated the mountain

and still do today.

The mountain and the Mandala

are both viewed as a Buddha's dwelling place.

In the shadow of Mount Kailash lies Lake Manasarovar,

also believed to be sacred

and viewed as the mountain's female consort.

The Tibetans christened the mount Kang Rinpoche,

"precious snow jewel".

All year long, pilgrims flock to the mountain.

Numbers soar dramatically during full moon at the end of May.

This day coincides with the birth of Buddha

and, at the same time,

marks the moment he attained enlightenment.

Every twelve years, during the Year of the Horse,

vast numbers of pilgrims gather here

to assemble on the holy land.

The pilgrims begin their prostrations

the moment Mount Kailash comes into view.

The pilgrims have travelled here without any Western comforts

perched on top of open trucks.

Using primitive bellows,

they kindle fires of dry yak dung

and make tea.

They add barley flour and rancid yak butter.

These are nearly the only provisions they have.

A tent city has emerged at the base of the mountain.

The tents are considered a luxury.

Most pilgrims will spend the freezing nights out in the open,

wrapped only in their overcoats.

The first day begins with the Saka Dawa festival.

The festival culminates with the erection of a tall mast

using ropes adorned with chains of prayer flags.

After the mast has been erected,

the pilgrims set off on the Kora,

or circumambulation of Mount Kailash.

Trekking around the entire base of the mountain

covers a distance of 52 km.

The Kora will take them three days

at an average altitude of well over 5,000 metres.

On the second day,

they will have to cross a pass at an altitude of 5,600 metres.

Each year, several pilgrims die from altitude sickness.

Many of the faithful come from the Indian lowlands

and are not adequately accustomed to the climate.

As it is the Year of the Horse, pilgrims are rewarded

with a twelvefold absolution from negative karma

which would have burdened their existence after reincarnation.

The pilgrims walk in a clockwise direction.

Followers of the B? N religion are easily recognizable.

They move in the opposite direction.

The central part of the Mandala

is evocative of the composition of Mount Kailash,

viewed by many believers

as the centre of the physical and spiritual universe.

We asked the Dalai Lama for his views on this theory.

These cauldrons are used to prepare the monks' afternoon tea.

Eager young monks battle for the honour

of being the first to serve

their group of high-ranking monks.

These are the preparations for the Long Life Ceremony.

Gifts will be distributed among the faithful.

The most coveted of these are the consecrated barley dumplings

which hold the promise of a long and happy life.

The enclosed area containing the Sand Mandala

is now open and on display to the general public.

It is protected by plexiglas,

as touching or breathing on the Mandala

could destroy it.

The Dalai Lama has yet to make a public appearance

and rumours are spreading about the severity of his illness.

Loud speakers announce

that His Holiness will address the pilgrims the following morning.

Hundreds of thousands of queues have been forming since 3 a.m.

Lines of pilgrims stretch for kilometres into the distance.

Pilgrims throw prayer shawls to the front

symbolizing their wish to be close to the Dalai Lama.

Speaking in Tibetan, the Dalai Lama explains

that due to his serious illness

he will be unable to preside over the ceremonies,

each of which lasts many hours.

He will be unable to perform the principal initiation rites.

He calls upon the pilgrims

to reconvene here in a year's time.

Preparations for the next Kalachakra, to be held in Graz in Austria,

have long been underway

and it will go ahead in the autumn as planned.

The Dalai Lama's news does not come as a surprise.

However, the pilgrims are shocked.

Most of them stay up the whole night holding a vigil,

praying for the Dalai Lama's recovery.

He seems about to add something.

However, tormented by the fact

that he has disappointed so many who have come so far,

he remains silent.

Graz in Austria

is home to a small but extremely active Buddhist community.

In cooperation with the City of Graz, it worked incredibly hard

to have the chance to host a Kalachakra Initiation.

The Dalai Lama has rarely agreed

to perform this important ceremony in the West.

He recently expressed concerns about believers who change religions

and cut themselves off from their cultural milieu.

But he does endorse efforts

to study and understand other religions.

Only in this way

can long-lasting peace ever be secured on this planet.

The initiation will take place in the recently opened convention hall

which can easily accommodate 8,000 people.

Despite being tired and evidently jet-lagged,

the Dalai Lama still radiates

his characteristic warmth and kindness.

Unsure of what he may do next,

he is a constant worry to his bodyguards.

He spontaneously sets off

to mingle with the crowd.

The Dalai Lama now performs the duties he was unable to fulfil in Bodh Gaya.

He lays down the first lines of the template for the Sand Mandala.

It will be an exact mathematical replica

of the design used in India.

The people assembled in the hall fall silent.

The Dalai Lama assumes his role

as he leads prayers, teachings

and presides over the composition of the Mandala.

The Dalai Lama takes his place on his throne

from which he will lead several days of instruction.

This man caught our attention

because he was invited to sit with the high-ranking lamas.

We learned that his name was Takna Jigme Sangpo.

A former schoolteacher,

this man spent many years as a political prisoner in Tibet.

He had only recently been released.

Two days ago,

he set eyes on the Dalai Lama for the first time in his life.

Before the initiation begins,

the Dalai Lama performs a number of rituals.

One of the first rituals is the oracle.

This determines the auspicious outcome of the Kalachakra Initiation.

The decisive factor in this ritual

is the direction in which the stick falls.

The only Western layperson

to have the privilege of taking part in this oracle

is Manfred Klell,

the chairman of Graz Buddhist Association.

Another preparatory ritual

is performed using kusha grass from India.

The faithful lay it under their pillows at night

and their dreams are stored in its blades.

Following other rituals,

the protective curtain is lifted and the Sand Mandala unveiled.

The Dalai Lama will now initiate the students

into this sacred landscape.

The assembled believers don red headbands

to symbolize the blindness of their minds thus far.

Some lay seeds on their heads

to represent the activation of their consciousness.

This is followed by many hours of meditation

and rituals to purify the mind

until the faithful have reached a higher state of consciousness.

The zenith of this purely spiritual event,

invisible to a camera lens, thus draws to a close.

All that remains is for the Dalai Lama to destroy the Sand Mandala.

As a symbol of the transitory nature of living creatures,

the Mandala sand is scattered into the Mur river

from where it will flow out as a blessing to the earth.

The Sand Mandala has been released into the world

and the Dalai Lama has left the country.

Yet a solitary bodyguard remains on duty,

evidently still waiting to be discharged.

Or is he meant to symbolize the Buddhist idea of emptiness:

He has no one to protect

and hardly anyone to protect them from.

Back in Bodh Gaya we meet a similar scene.

400,000 discarded cushions.

And one solitary monk.

Still immersed in prayer.

Is he praying for us?

Has he found enlightenment?

And then, like a nocturnal animal

emerging from the earth,

a thought creeps into my mind.

Is it possible that he is sitting on the spot

which marks the centre of the universe?