HIS HOLINESS THE DALAI LAMA AND KALACHAKRA

Following the example of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in his role as leader of all the Tibetan people, the International Kalachakra Network is non-sectarian, and with equal respect supports Kalachakra practice within all major traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, Gelug, Jonang, Kagyu, Nyingma, and Sakya.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama is also the vajra master for the great majority of Kalachakra initiates in the International Kalachakra Network. Out of our respect for him as leader of the Tibetan people, as well as our vajra vows to him as our vajra master, the International Kalachakra Network is committed to following his advice, and cannot support anything that is knowingly harmful to him. It is our sincere wish to assist in his lifelong mission of world peace through Kalachakra.

 

IKN MEMORANDUM OF INTENT With the deepest respect and admiration for all authentic Kalachakra lineage masters of the past and present to support world peace analogous to the Kalachakra tradition, which symbolises a powerful force for peace in our world and an antidote to war, the undersigned endorse the following purposes of the International Kalachakra Network, to sustain the Kalachakra tradition: To provide world-wide, trans-sectarian support for Kalachakra practice and study in authentic lineages, by acting as a non-hierarchical communication platform between vajra brothers and sisters, with the deepest respect for the advice of fully qualified teachers such as His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. To promote effective and efficient communication and cooperation between teachers, practitioners, scholars and translators as well as the Kalachakra Practice Groups and Centres about teaching programmes, retreats and any other related activities. To support emerging Kalachakra Practice Groups and Centres. To promote the translation, creation and production of practitioner-friendly Kalachakra texts, commentaries and practice materials. To preserve and make accessible traditional Kalachakra texts for practitioners, translators and scholars by creating and maintaining a catalogue and repository of available texts. To safeguard tantric secrecy by ensuring that access to practice texts is restricted to initiates and practitioners. To provide basic information to non-initiates in order to avoid serious misunderstanding of Kalachakra practice, while avoiding a popular mass-media focus. To discourage an approach to Kalachakra practice related materials merely for personal or professional gain. To protect the purity of individual lineages and to recognize the value of discussion and friendly, constructive debate between different commentarial traditions.

 

HISTORY OF THE IKN

The International Kalachakra Network (IKN) was conceived by David Reigle and Andy Wistreich in 1998. The Internet was just beginning to be used as a global communication system, and it was decided to create a network rather than the more traditional Institute that had been considered in the 1980’s.

The purpose of the IKN was to be to offer support for the practice of Kalacakra by encouraging and generating translations of helpful texts and by supporting individual practitioners both in isolated situations and in groups.

The Kalachakra initiation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Graz (October 2002) proved to be a very important event for the IKN, as we managed to organize some meetings with several leading people interested in Kalachakra practice. Very encouraging discussions were held, for example leading to above Memorandum of Intent, which was signed by Kirti Tsenshap Rinpoche and various leading Kalachakra translators, scholars and practice group leaders. In a sense, one could say that the IKN was born during these meetings.

An important aspect of IKN is its trans-sectarian ethos and nature. His Holiness the Dalai Lama being recognised as its principal guiding inspiration, it has embraced all authentic Kalacakra lineages extant in the world today. His Holiness was consulted on the issue of who should have access to the restricted materials, to which he responded that they should be available to anyone who is seriously and genuinely interested in Kalacakra practice.

The IKN website attracted practitioners from around the world. It gradually accumulated a library of Kalacakra materials, some restricted to initiates only and others open to all. An executive was formed from Kalacakra translators and group leaders, and an initiates online forum that enabled a period of intense discussion and has now given way to being a vehicle for occasional announcements.

With connections to Kalacakra practitioners all over the world, and as a useful source of practice and study materials on Kalacakra, the IKN continues to make a positive contribution to the life of the Kalacakra tradition in the 21st century.

At the end of 2025, the management of the website was handed over to Tibet House US to ensure the continued access to the IKN resources which were collected over the years.

 

TANTRIC SECRECY

Access to authentic Kalachakra practice materials has always been restricted.

There is a tremendous increase today in the numbers of people internationally who have received the initiation, and there is also widespread access through the Internet, magazines and television to images of the mandala or general introductory information about Kalachakra. The IKN website will likewise contain some generally accessible information.

However, the IKN is set up within the awareness and experience that at a deeper level, the access to appropriate materials for Kalachakra practice has to be restricted. For example, for those who have attended an initiation, a number of brief materials are commonly available, such as the Six-session Guru Yoga according to Kalachakra by the late Ling Rinpoche. The number of people who do such practices is very small compared to the number who take the initiation. Far smaller still, is the number who regularly undertakes a sadhana such as the Mind Mandala or Body, Speech and Mind Mandala Sadhanas. It could be said that the IKN is especially for those who are in these last two categories, or on the move from the first to the second.

The purity of the Kalachakra tradition is very powerfully protected. This protection makes authentic materials hard to access. The most famous example of this is that the Root Tantra is not available in our world - only in Shambhala. Furthermore, experience has shown that of the materials available in our world, many are hard to acquire.

The IKN will only succeed if it respects these powerful protective forces and takes great care to ensure that materials it develops for practitioners are not made available to a wider audience.