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Sakya Trizin to visit Victoria

Victoria Times Colonist

The Sakya Trizin is the head of the Sakya order of Tibetan Buddhism. He is scheduled to visit Victoria, Canada, in August.File photo/Handout

For the first time in 22 years, His Holiness the Sakya Trizin of the Sakya order of Tibetan Buddhism is coming to Victoria in Canada.

He is the head of one of four major religious traditions of Tibet. The Dalai Lama is the head of the Gelug tradition, and is generally recognized by all four to be the head of Tibetan Buddhism.

Followers of the Sakya tradition were the major political power in Tibet in the 13th and 14th centuries.

Hosted by the Victoria Buddhist Dharma Society, the Sakya Trizin will be speaking 16 August at Alix Goolden Hall about how Buddhism applies to daily life.

The next day he will confer a public empowerment session to develop Buddha’s wisdom, compassion and power, taking place at the Church of Truth on Superior Street.

The Sakya order of Tibetan Buddhism was founded in 1073 and Sakya Trizin is a descendant of the founding masters of the sect.

Born, raised and educated in Tibet, he was enthroned in 1959 but fled later that year to India. There he established the Sakya Guru Monastery in Darjeeling, followed later by other monasteries, nunneries and the Sakya Institute in Puruwala.

In total he has founded dozens of monasteries in Tibet, Nepal and India, as well as numerous dharma centres around the world.

The Sakya Trizin is married with two sons, the eldest of whom will be the next head of the Sakya order.

He travels frequently, teaching and touring mostly in Asia and Europe. This visit is part of a tour of North and South America.

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