The Dalai Lama’s Gift

Director: Ed Bastian

Country: USA

Year: 2024

View Trailer

In 1981, a Buddhist monk teaching at the University of Madison, Wisconsin, made the bold request of the Dalai Lama to come and perform a rare ritual, never before done outside of India or Tibet: the Kalachakra, among the highest of the Buddhist tantric teachings. In just a few months, with a team of dedicated students, and cameras rolling, they constructed a temple and organized an event for over a thousand spiritual seekers, in a cornfield outside Madison.

The incredible footage was tucked away in the Smithsonian vaults, until now. What unfolds is the story of a powerful ritual, its impact on the people that made it happen, and the meaning behind this ancient initiation.

This film is one of ten films featured in the 2025 Tricycle Film Festival, taking place online from March 14–27, 2025. Learn more and get your ticket here.

The monks work on the Sand Mandala
The Sa Kar Dance
The Initiatates
The Dalai Lama purifies an initiate with water
The Dalai Lama in the hat of his line
The Dalai Lama creates the main sand mandala lines
Kalachakra and Vishvamata
Monks draw the precise lines for the sand mandala
Monks react to the Dalai Lama
Monks work on the lines for the sand mandala
Initiates wait for His Holiness
His Holiness and Initiates
A monk working on the Sand Mandala
A monk wearing the costume of a deity