The
Dalai Lama's Gift
Watch the Trailer
The inspiring story of how Geshe Lhundub Sopa, and a handful of his devoted students, brought His Holiness the Dalai Lama to heartland
A Film by Ed Bastian
DIRECTOR/PRODUCER Ed Bastian
Co-PRODUCER Sharpa Tulku, Catherine Wyler, Jennifer Beman
EDITOR/WRITER Jennifer Beman | MUSIC Nawang Khechog
ART AND ANIMATION Pema Namdol Thaye
2O24 | US | English | 76 minutes
About The Dalai Lama's Gift
A hidden ritual. A sacred promise. A cornfield transformed.
In 1980, His Holiness the Dalai Lama received a humble request from Geshe Sopa, a revered Tibetan monk in America: to perform the Kalachakra initiation—a powerful tantric ritual never before held outside of India or Tibet—in the heart of rural Wisconsin.
What followed was nothing short of miraculous. In just a few months, the monk's devoted students overcame local resistance, built a temple from the ground up, and transformed a Midwestern cornfield into a site of ancient wisdom and spiritual awakening, attracting over 1000 spiritual seekers from around the world.
Captured on film then locked away in Smithsonian vaults for over 40 years, this long-lost footage resurfaces to reveal a story of devotion, transformation, and a moment when time, space, and tradition converged in the unlikeliest of places.
The Dalai Lama’s Gift is a cinematic meditation on faith, legacy, and the power of one sacred encounter to ripple across generations.
Film Festivals
and Screenings
Official Selection
8th Foça International Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Documentary Film Festival
Buenos Aires International Film Fest
Buddha Fest
Buddhist Arts and Film Festival
DC International Film Festival
Illuminate Film Festival
International Buddhist Film Festival
Religion Faith International Film Festival
South Asian International Film Festival Florida
South Asian Film Festival Montreal
Tricycle Film Festival
Wisconsin Film Festival
World Fest Houston
“The Dalai Lama’s Gift is a marvelous invocation of an historic event. It serves as an excellent introduction to the Kalachakra initiation and Tibetan Buddhist philosophy. Overall, this is an exceptional work!”
Gaetano Kazuo Maida
International Buddhist Film Festival
Founder/Executive Producer