Excerpt from teaching at KTD given by Kalu Rinpoche in 1982:

From this beginning of the process of transmission, gradually the entire corpus of Buddhist teachings of both the Sutra and Tantra traditions, all of the commentaries, all of the root texts were able to be brought from India to the land of Tibet. It was transmitted and translated completely without any element missing to the Tibetan people. In the great hope that the same kind of transmission process can occur in the United States, Canada and all of the countries of the West I taught the foundation of the Four Thoughts which turn the mind away from samsara and towards spiritual practice. Based upon this I also gave the vows of refuge and taught widely about this concept and also promulgated this practice of the meditation of Chenrezig, both the instructions and initiation wherever I went. The results I found were very favorable.

            The reason why this concept of refuge and the actual taking of refuge is so fundamental to Buddhist practice is that simply without this initial level of commitment and engagement in Buddhist practice, any further level of ordination or commitment of involvement in the Buddhist path is impossible. Taking refuge forms a foundation which is absolutely necessary to traveling the Buddhist path to enlightenment. Furthermore I would give names to people during the actual ceremony of taking refuge and these names all begin with karma which is almost like a family name. This was to indicate not only that these people became Buddhists by accepting the Three Jewels as the source of their inspiration but that they were also connected to the Karma Kagyu lineage and His Holiness the Gyalwa Karmapa. Simply coming into contact with this name and this transmission in this small way is very beneficial indeed and carries an incredibly strong spiritual blessing with it. This is why from the very beginning until the present day I never changed my custom of giving this kind of refuge name when I give the vows of refuge.

            Because all meditational deities or yidams are emanations of enlightenment, there is not one of these forms that lack spiritual blessing with the potential to aid and benefit beings. However the form of Chenrezig, the bodhisattva of compassion, represents the quintessence and the union of the love and compassion of all the Buddhas and bodhisattvas. The benefits of this meditation in arousing this love and compassion in the experience of the practitioners of such meditation as well as the realization of emptiness and meditative absorption which develops upon this practice are felt to be very beneficial indeed. This is why I chose this particular meditation out of the entire range of tantric meditations available in order to present to Western audiences.