"For his first public event in several months, the Karmapa generously bestowed a longevity empowerment at the invitation of the Tibetan and Himalayan communities of New York and New Jersey. He gave a joyous crowd of over 12,000 an empowerment composed by the great siddha Thangtong Gyalpo, who himself is reputed to have lived some 120 years. His life was a rich one, filled with composing texts, building his famous chain-link bridges, initiating Tibetan opera (Lha mo), and founding the Shangpa Kagyu lineage through the instructions of the famous female teacher Niguma. Throughout the ceremony, a beautiful jade statue of Thangtong Gyalpo sat next to the Karmapa’s text on a tall table in front of his throne. Behind him rose a tall, framed in brocade image of the Buddha statue inside the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya where the Karmapa has often prayed. After the organizers, led by Norbu Tsering, President of the Tibetan Community of New York and New Jersey, gave thanks to His Holiness, he began the empowerment, reading the text as he performed the ritual. It stated that the purpose of receiving this empowerment was to bring limitless numbers of living beings to the level of Amitayus’ realization and also explained that Thangtong Gyalpo was especially blessed by Guru Rinpoche. After the preliminaries, the Karmapa stopped to give a short talk. First, he welcomed everyone and explained that since he had stayed in the US for a while, he had had the chance to form a Dharma connection with people here, which had resulted in the request for this empowerment. Speaking of the New Year, he mentioned that according to the Western calendar, we are in the New Year of 2018, yet from a Tibetan perspective, the New Year has yet to arrive. " Läs hela artikeln här: http://kagyuoffice.org/the-gyalwang-karmapa-gives-a-longevity-empowerment-in-new-york/