Thousands watch film of Gyalwang Karmapa's Life of Milarepa
10th -11th December, 2010

Report by Lhundup Damcho

After a full day of teachings by His Holiness the Gyalwang Karmapa, thousands returned to the stage grounds after dark to view the recently released DVD of the Life of Milarepa, a play written and produced by His Holiness himself. With Yonge Mingyur Rinpoche and KhenpoDonyoLodro Rinpoche in attendance, the play kept the audience spellbound for two consecutive nights. The first three acts of the play were shown at 7pm on December 10, with the remaining three acts and epilogues aired at the same time on December 11.

The play was broadcast on large display screens set up across the very same grounds where nearly a year ago a crowd of 20,000 had gathered to watch the play performed live for the first timeby Tibetan Institute for the Performing Arts (TIPA). That performance took place immediately after the 27th Kagyu Monlam Chenmo, and had been the largest theatrical event in Tibetan history, according to TIPA. For those who had weathered the bitter cold to sit through to the end during the original performance in January 2010, the two nights offered the joy of watching it again under gentler conditions—and with subtitles in English. For those who missed the play last year, the screening was a valued opportunity to view the life of Milarepa through the exquisite prism of His Holiness’s script and stage direction. The DVD of the Life of the Milarepa includes subtitles in Chinese and English. It was recently released and is now available for purchase at the 28th Kagyu Monlam.

Taking advantage of the large number of monks who had gathered to watch the play, a Tibetan doctor gave a talk on hygiene and health before the screening began. At last year’s Kagyu Monlam, His Holiness had identified health education as an area of focus for the upcoming year. The educational talk on physical health beforehand and the delightful presentation of Mila’s spiritual accomplishments afterwards combined to offer a visible example of His Holiness the Gyalwang Karmapa’s vast and varied activities to care for his disciples, in body and mind both.

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