From the 20th to 24th of this month, it was decided that there was to be a Kalachakara teaching by His Eminence Athi Kalsang Tashi Gyatso in Samey-shi village, Gumong town in Mangzong, (Qinghai province), Amdo Tibet. Yesterday morning, just before dawn, the local authorities and police officers came to the ground and forced the Athi Lama to return to his home monastery. Also, the Kalachakra organizers were detained and questioned. While authorities were destroying the Sand Mandala by throwing water on it, many devotees tried to stop doing it and requested to continue the Kalachakra teaching. But they were beaten. Then the authorities went to tent camps and told people that there would be no Kalachakra teaching and ordered them to return home.
A concerned Tibetan relayed this information to the Tibet Times. “This Kalachakra teaching of His Eminence Athi Rinpoche was requested from the Chinese government by the people many years before this date. It was prepared after getting permission. All the preparation for the five-day-long Kalachakra teaching was done, and most of the distant devotees have already reached here. The day before yesterday and yesterday were the Kalachakra initiations, however, yesterday morning, just before dawn, the Chinese government commanded that the Kalachakra is not permitted. So, this has made thousands of farming and nomadic devotees face mental problems. Not only this, it has caused a huge financial loss too. Over 200 hundred thousand Chinese Yuan has to be paid for the Kalachakra teaching ground.”
The concerned person added, “Chinese government usually says there is religious freedom. They first told the Lama and all others that the Kalachakra was permitted but we were tricked. If the Kalachakra is decided for tomorrow and restricted today, then religious freedom is destroyed. The Chinese government has disregarded the permission given according to the law.”
Some other concerned individuals explained that the province government had permitted for the Kalachakra teaching. Still, the videos welcoming the Lama for Kalachakra went viral on social media, causing the videos to be blocked. So, the Chinese central government commanded that the Kalachakra is not permitted. There is also a growing rumor that the Kalachakra was banned, possibly due to conflicts between lamas.
His Eminence Athi Rinpoche Kalsang Tashi Gyatso was born in Kumbum Tsotuk in Amdo. He was recognized as the 7th Athi Rinpoche during his teenage period and held the enthronement ceremony in Athi monastery in 1997. He has studied in Kumbum monastery and Labrong Tashi Kyil at different times. He is the root guru of 2000 families from Logya, Tsanak, Juser, Rengon villages in the Mangzong, Amdo. It is estimated to gather around four hundred thousand devotees to the Kalachakra from Qinghai and Sichuan provinces in Tibet.
“Besides the devotees, more than one thousand tent stalls were set up around the Kalachakra sites for various kinds of business. When the Kalachakra was banned all of a sudden, people were talking on media about the stocks like bread, milk, curd, and other merchandise prepared for the Kalachakra teaching are wasted and experiencing huge losses.”
