Kalachakra thangka.  Image is print on vinyl with blue brocade frame with gold and red accents.  Wood dowel bottom ends.

Image: 8" x 12" / Brocade: 19" x 27"

Kalachakra means Time-Wheel, as "KÄA?la" is Sanskrit for Time and "Chakra" (or Cakra) is Wheel in Sanskrit (In Tibetan his name is dus.'khor). It is also translated as Time-Cycles. Much in this tradition revolves around the concept of time and cycles: from the cycles of the planets, to the cycles of our breath and the practice of controlling the most subtle energies within one's body on the path to enlightenment. The Kalachakra deity represents omniscience, as everything is under the influence of time, he is time and therefore knows all. Similarly, the wheel is beginningless and endless.

Among the five main Tibetan schools, the Kalachakra practice appears most prominent in the Jonang tradition, although the practice is found in all five schools. The Jonang tradition is not well known due to historic reasons, but very significant for Kalachakra practice. They established Kalachakra as their main system for practice and have preserved a unique lineage of the Kalachakra practice. The Dalai Lamas have had specific interest in the Kalachakra practice, specifically the First, Second, Seventh, Eighth, and the current Fourteenth Dalai Lama.

In Tibet, the Kalachakra astrological system forms one of the main building blocks to compose astrological calendars. The astrology in the Kalachakra is not unlike the Western system, where for example, complicated calculations are required to determine e.g. the exact location of the planets.

Very often, the phrase 'as it is outside, so it is within the body' can be found in the Kalachakratantra to emphasize similarities between ourselves and the cosmos; the basis for astrology, but also for even more profound connections and interdependence as taught in the Kalachakra literature.

"Time is the substance from which I am made.
Time is a river which carries me along, but I am the river;
It is a tiger that devours me, but I am the tiger;
It is a fire that consumes me, but I am the fire."
Jorge Luis Borges

- description from the International Kalachakra Network 

About the Dharma Friendship Foundation

Under the guidance of Alan Wallace, DFF was founded in Seattle in 1985 in order to make it possible for Gen Lamrimpa to come and teach in the USA for an extended period of time. Born in Tibet in 1934, Gen Lamrimpa became a refugee in India after the 1959 abortive uprising against Communist Chinese rule in Tibet . Gen Lamrimpa was known as an accomplished meditator and a true yogi, although, like all genuine masters, he remained humble and unostentatious. For many years before coming to Seattle he meditated in a stone and mud hut in the mountains above Dharamsala , India . Once in Seattle , he led a one-year samatha retreat at Cloud Mountain Retreat Center , providing earnest Western practitioners the possibility to practice under his guidance. His book Calming the Mind (Snow Lion Publications, Ithaca New York), first published as Samatha Meditation, is the record of some of the teachings he gave during this time. After teaching in the USA for two years, Gen Lamrimpa returned to Dharamsala to continue his practice. He came back to Seattle to teach in late 1992 for several months before returning to India . “Gen la” passed away in meditation in 2004. 

DFF was extremely fortunate to have had Venerable Thubten Chodron as its resident teacher and spiritual advisor for many years. In 2002, Ven. Chodron moved from Seattle in order to begin Sravasti Abbey, an abbey for nuns, monks, and laypeople. She continued to function as the Spiritual Adviser of DFF until September, 2005, when with her blessing and encouragement, the Board of DFF formally requested Yangsi Rinpoche to be our new spiritual adviser.

From 2005 to the present, Yangsi Rinpoche has guided DFF, generously offering public teachings and empowerments as well as an annual two week Mahamudra retreat. Much as Atisha brought the pure Dharma teachings from India to Tibet in the eleventh century, Rinpoche has worked closely with the DFF Board and the broader community, to continue the task of planting the Dharma in American soil, and in the hearts of its people.

Dharma Friendship Foundation